Strange Fruit
by weezerz2490
Summary: Tansy Cresta, Annie's younger sister has always been different from the other kids in District 4. But she looks up to her kind and gentle older sister and would do anything for her. Even volunteer herself as tribute for the Hunger Games. With the help of Finnick and Mags will she be able to survive, or will the arena destroy Tansy like so many who came before her?
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: So as you've probably guessed the setting for this story may be slight AU, because I've made a lot of guesses about District 4 and the background of characters who are from there. I also want to warn any die hard Fannie fans out there that this story may end up eventually pairing Finnick with the OC, but please let me know what you think of the story so far, especially if you enjoy it or have any helpful suggestions on how to improve it. Thanks for reading!

I own nothing but my OCs.

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 **Chapter 1: The Reaping**

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When Tansy woke up, the other side of the bed was warm. This helped her regain a sense of calm as her fingers stretched out, seeking Annie's warmth and finding the soft cotton of the sleeve of her half-sister's nightgown and the cool, silken strands of her reddish-brown hair. The world outside the macramé-curtained window of their bedroom was still dark but the clock illuminated by a sliver of pale moonlight showed they were already two hours into the new morning. Tansy couldn't remember the details of her dreams, only that they had been troubled and riddled with feelings of anxiety and dread. Of course they were. This was the day of the reaping.

She propped herself up on one elbow. Her eyes adjusted to the dark quickly enough for her to see the peaceful expression on Annie's face, cocooned next to her in the sheets. In sleep, Annie looks younger, almost her age. Her face was as clean and white as a pearl. Her soft hair reminded Tansy of a warm and safe place she would hide with her friends as a child, back when she still lived in District 11 with her mother. Her mother was very beautiful once, too. Or so they told her.

Her mother, a victor from 11 named Chicory Fields, had been an unstable woman for as long Tansy could remember. She had her good days, when she could laugh and smile and doted on Tansy like a normal mother, but more often than not her days were dark and sometimes even dangerous. Her mother tried to drown her demons with liquor, but they learned how to swim. There were times when it wasn't safe to be in the same room with her. When her mother would scream and howl like a wounded animal and clutch the knife she slept with to her breast, lashing out anyone or anything foolish enough to get too close. On those days the only thing Tansy could do was watch, huddled in a corner and feeling utterly helpless, or wait outside the room with the door locked for her own safety, singing her mother's favorite songs in the vein hope that one of them would reach her and bring back the smiling woman who loved to hold her close and tight, as if she was her most important treasure. Sometimes the songs did help, and her mother would let her come close enough to hold her and whisper reassuring words until she was calm enough to be coaxed into forcing herself to eat something. Her mother may have survived the arena, but whatever happened to her in there had destroyed her. It was hard on Tansy having to see her mother that way. A few other adults who had been friends with her mother back when they were still children, before she was reaped, tried to check on them whenever they could and helped Tansy learn how to take care of herself and her mother, but in 11 everyone worked in the fields and orchards from sunup to sundown and little time and effort could be spared to care for a mad woman and her child. But Tansy couldn't blame them. They had their own troubles. Life was hard for everyone in 11.

The day that truly haunted Tansy was her eighth birthday. She had come home with ingredients for tansy cakes to an eerily silent home. She found her mother staring up at the ceiling with unseeing eyes. In one hand she clutched an empty jar of sleeping pills. In the other was a half-spilled bottle of white liquor. That large mansion of white marble with its empty echoing halls, where the two of them once lived together, had become a mausoleum. After the funeral, Tansy hid in small thicket of oaks and pines that had sprouted up near the Victor's Village and gone largely left unchecked. She hid there for weeks living on bark, needles, nuts, and weeds in a desperate attempt to avoid being dragged away from her home and condemned to 11's community home with the rest of the district's mistreated and malnourished orphans. Her mother may not have been the most stable or suitable guardian for a small child, but she had at least been family and she had only ever actually hit Tansy once, an act which had been followed by days and days of tearful apologies and hugs and special treats to make up for it. Her mother was not a mean woman, unlike the matron of the community home, who was well known for her brutality. The effects of which could easily be seen in the vacant and hopeless stares and oppressive silence from the gaunt faces of the children under her care.

As far as Tansy knew at that point in time her mother had been her only family. Her mother never spoke of her father, and Tansy had stopped asking when she saw how much pain her questions seemed to cause. The only memento they had of him was a smooth pink stone that shimmered like flames in the sunlight. Her mother told her it was something called a conch pearl. She said it was a magic charm that, along with a phrase her father had taught her, used to help her face her darker days. The news that he was still alive and well in District 4 and had another daughter who was her older half sister, and that she was going to be sent to live with them instead of in 11's community home had come as a huge shock. Despite the tragedy she was drowning in, for Tansy this was the first irrefutable evidence she had that miracles really did exist. That things didn't always have to go from better to worse. That they could go from worse to better, too.

Back in the present, Tansy reached out to retrieve the small, oval-shaped pink pearl that Annie had woven into a hemp necklace for her so that she would always be able to carry it with her. Her sister said it was a good luck charm, to keep her safe. Annie changed the design every year as part of her present for reaping day, adding the prettiest of the small shells from the collection they combed from the beach together. This year the necklace had been woven into a choker with the hemp framing small, white shells all around with decorative knots interspaced between them and the conch pearl framed in the very center as its main feature. It was beautiful. The pink pearl was the only concrete memento she had left of her mother and her life in 11 outside of her memories.

The transition from 11 to 4 had been hard. The conch pearl was only spared because it had originally come from the coast off District 4. They wouldn't let her take anything with her from 11. Not the clothes on her back. Not even her name. Her dusty cotton shirt, patched overalls, buckled shoes, and straw sunhat from 11 were stripped away and replaced with a clean dress and sandals from 4. Tansy Fields became Tansy Cresta. Talk about her life in 11 to outsiders was strictly forbidden. Residents in the districts were rarely allowed to travel outside of their own with the exception of the tributes reaped for the games. It was rarer still for a child to be born from parents belonging to two different districts.

But not impossible, as Tansy had learned. She had been conceived while her mother was conducting her victory tour. Due to some technical difficulties with the train, her mother was able to enjoy an extended stay in District 4, where she met a handsome young fisherman while walking along the beach one night. They had trouble sleeping because they were both lonely. They had both been through traumatic experiences. She had survived the games by sacrificing everything that made her human after the boy who came from home with her was killed right before her eyes. He had lost his wife when the boat they worked on was caught in a perfect storm, and the surf coming over the side had ripped her straight from his hands. Comforting each other during their nightly rendezvouses, Tansy's mother and father developed feelings for each other that were very much like love. But they could not stay together. When the train was fixed, Tansy's mother had to leave to continue her tour and her father stayed in 4 with Annie, who was only three-years-old at the time. Tansy was born nine months later, delivered by the local midwife, Ms. Mamie, on the kitchen table of one of the marble mansions of 11's Victor Village.

Tansy ran her fingers gently over the choker her sister had made for her and tied it securely around her neck. Since she had awoken so early, she had just enough time for a swim. She swung her legs off the bed, slipped out of her nightgown, and pulled on her wetsuit. Then she secured her dark blonde hair, still in its protective style of box braids, in a bun behind her head. Before she left the room, she placed her gift to Annie on their night table for her to find when she awoke. This year her present was also a necklace. Tansy had dyed and waxed the hemp sea green to match her sister's eyes and knotted and weaved the fine strings together in a thin band of undulating waves that dropped down into small beads made from blue and green sea glass. The main charm on the necklace was a piece of sea jade that she had wrapped with a thin stainless steel wire to make a stylized seahorse. Annie loved seahorses. And Tansy loved Annie. Even though they had different mothers, Annie had welcomed her with open arms. Annie gave her a new home. She was the first in 4 to completely accept her for who she was. Annie was the one who held her at night and taught her that it was okay to cry sometimes, that she didn't have to hold it in and suffer alone. For the first time in her life, Tansy was able to act like a normal child. Annie wasn't just an older sister to Tansy. She had become like a second mother. Tansy would do anything for her.

Moving into the front room of the house, Tansy spotted her father seated on the bench by the door while he pulled on his boots. Apparently he couldn't sleep either. He was fully dressed and looked ready to go fishing, even though today was supposed to be a holiday for everyone in the district. He looked up when she reached out to grab a pair of sandals and plopped herself down on the floor near the bench to put them on.

"Got a light?" he asked. It was especially dangerous to swim alone in the dark.

"It's right there," she replied, nodding her head up at the coat rack where she had left her underwater headlamp hanging next to her rain slicker.

She watched him reach out and grab it for her out the corner of her eye while she finished tying the laces on her sandals. Even though her skin was naturally darker than her sister's and father's, and her hair had the same curly texture as her mother's, she had definitely inherited his golden hair color and sea foam eyes. His face was weathered from constant exposure to the elements and the many worries that accompanied having two daughters who were near and around dating age, but he could still be considered a handsome man. He was kind like Annie, but he was a quiet man who usually kept his soft side hidden. When she first started living with him Tansy had thought his aloof attitude towards her might have been indifference or possibly even dislike, but she soon learned that he could be very affectionate once you got past his six layers of shyness, sarcasm, awkwardness, fear, vague dislike, and loneliness. In his own way Brian Cresta did care for his younger daughter, but he had never quite recovered from the loss of their mothers, whom he was reminded of every time he looked at them. Especially Annie, who was the spitting image of his first love and only wife.

Tansy strapped the light to her head and her father grabbed a lantern, a bucket, a small net, and his fishing pole. The oxygen tanks and flippers she normally used for the really deep diving she did for her work as a pearl diver in the oyster beds and maintaining the beds of the kelp forest farms were locked up at the warehouse, so she was free diving today.

The two of them left the house for the shore without another word. Their part of District 4, nicknamed Canning Row for all the seafood processing factories, was usually crawling with canners headed to the factories for their morning shifts and fishermen, longliners, trawlers, and deckhands headed for the marina. But that day the streets ripe with the smell of fish, preservatives, and metal were empty. Shutters on the cozy colorful homes were closed. The reaping wasn't until two. May as well sleep in. If you could.

The Cresta home was near the edge of Canning Row and close enough to the shore to receive enough of the sea breeze to ward off most of the fumes wafting from the factory. They lived in the middle class part of town and were considered to be fairly well off. Being one of the wealthiest districts of Panem, even the poorest in 4 seemed better off than anyone she had known in 11, where no child, save perhaps the mayor's daughter, could escape having to add their names into the drawing in exchange for tesserae. There were always hungry mouths in 11. She shuddered to imagine how many times her old friends must have their names entered for reaping by now. She still remembered her closest friends and thought about them often. She had already seen one or two familiar faces selected as tributes for her old district over the last four years, but no one she had been particularly close to, thankfully. Not that it made the games any easier to watch. It grew even harder as she came to know more of the residents of 4 better.

Upon her initial arrival, most of them had viewed her from afar with a mix of curiosity and suspicion. To them she was a strange fruit grafted from two trees that ordinarily should have never mixed. One of the main things they had teased her about was being unable to swim. That knowledge had been all but lost in 11. In fact, Tansy had been proud to be one of the few who was able to figure out how to do enough of a doggy paddle to be able keep her head above still water in emergencies. But she showed those District 4 kids who laughed at her in the end. Everyday, Tansy practiced swimming and diving with Annie until, eventually, she could swim farther and dive deeper than any of them. That shut most of them up, but a few of the meaner kids went out of their way to find other things to taunt her with. Tansy decided they weren't worth paying much attention to after that.

With the playing field leveled and a little help and encouragement from Annie, she was eventually able to make one or two friends and a handful of tolerable acquaintances. The first friend she had made on her own was actually Mags, an elderly victor. Tansy hadn't known how important she was at the time. She just thought she was a nice old lady who was wickedly skilled in making interesting fishing hooks and lures and seemed to have trouble talking. At the time, Mags was recovering from a stroke that had severely affected her ability to speak and she had gone down to the beach for some privacy because it was so frustrating for her to suddenly be unable to communicate properly with those around her. It was so bad that she had to learn sign language while she waited for her speech therapy to help her regain the ability to communicate verbally again. Finnick Odair, a young victor who she had mentored and stayed close to, was trying to learn too, but he wasn't picking it up as fast as he thought he would.

Fortunately for Mags, Tansy happened to be very proficient in using sign language, because one of her friends back in 11 had been deaf. Delighted to find someone with whom she could have a real conversation with, Mags was only too happy to show Tansy how to make the kind of lure she had been working on. From then on the two of them would meet up at that spot to talk and exchange skills and have a little fun wading in the tide pools and exploring the hidden caves along that section of the beach. It was only a little under three years later, when Annie introduced her to her new boyfriend, the famous Finnick Odair, that Tansy learned who Mags really was. It was her first time meeting victors who appeared to be so well adjusted after having experienced the horrors of an arena, so it had come as a surprise to Tansy. But she couldn't help but smile at the sly wink the old woman gave her when she was found out.

Tansy gave her head a small shake in attempt to chase away those unhappy thoughts about the danger that she and her sister and their younger friends still faced. There would be plenty of time to worry about that later. She and her father had almost reached the shed that he and several men from his crew rented together to store the small personal boats they used for recreation, and Tansy could see where the dark ocean melted into the sky, giving the illusion of a vast and endless space that seemed to stretch on forever. This was her favorite part about 4 aside from the abundance of food. A horizon without walls. The rest of the district was, of course, enclosed by a high chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. It supposedly was electrified twenty-four hours a day as a deterrent to the predators that lived in the wild—packs of wild dogs, lone cougars, bears—but they seemed like a joke to Tansy compared to the utterly impenetrable and unending concrete walls of District 11. Especially since the fence around 4 ended in the west at the coast. The Capitol had given up on trying to fence in the sea long ago when they realized it would interfere too much with the ecosystems of their favorite foods and that it would mean cutting off the access fishermen would have to some of the rarer and more expensive delicacies. So if someone wanted to leave, all they had to do was go around it.

But no one ever did. Trespassing in the territory outside the district was illegal and poaching carried the severest of penalties. Unlike in 11, where the starving masses would no doubt risk it if they had weapons and could get out, here in 4 there was really no need, because food was plentiful and the rules regarding foraging within the district were less strict than they had been in 11, since the self-replenishing bounty of the ocean was available to all. The only real rules you had to watch out for were the limit placed on how much of certain species of sea life could be taken by one individual and what species were completely off limits, avoiding the offshore nurseries and farms, and staying within a set distance from the shore. It wasn't safe to go out too far in the little dinghies citizens were allowed to own anyway. Only commercial ships built for deep-sea fishing that had special permits and were supervised by a guard of Peacekeepers could venture out farther than the border marked by the orange buoys and be gone for longer than a day without eliciting punishment. That was how the Capitol controlled them instead of the fence, by limiting their means of escape via the ocean. But again, no one tried. Tansy had learned in school how a few attempts were made early on in the district's history to escape that way, because there used to be other countries on the other side of the ocean, back when the land that District 4 was built on was still called 'California', but needless to say each attempt had ended in disaster and death. And most people figured why take the risk? It had been so long since there was contact from the world outside Panem that no one knew if there was even anything left over there to run to. Life wasn't so bad in 4. If only it weren't for the reaping. No district, no matter how affluent, could escape the games.

Tansy and her father carried their small boat out to meet the waves. She climbed in first, carrying the lantern, which she placed on a hook attached to the side of the boat. Then he handed her the oars, gave the dinghy a shove, and hopped in with a practiced ease as it glided into the water. The waves were gentle today. Father and Daughter gave the Peacekeepers on duty a wave with their hands before taking up their oars to row further out. Her father stopped well within the legal limits. Tansy turned on her light and prepared to dive. Before she went over and under he handed her the net and asked her to snag him some bait. She returned moments later with some clams and mussels. He nodded in approval and scooped some water into the bucket as he held it out for her to dump the contents of her net into it. Tansy left her father to his fishing and swam away from the boat to avoid his hook and line before diving again.

Tansy loved diving in the ocean. It was probably the last truly quiet place on earth. The moment she sank beneath the surface and felt herself gliding weightlessly through the water, she was free. The rest of the world and all its troubles fell away, silenced by the deep blue. Her first experience with it was numinous. It took a while for her eyes to adjust to the salt, but once they did, she found herself surrounded by a wholly new, strange, and wonderful world that was more fantastic than anything she could have ever imagined. In that endless blue world full of alien creatures she was filled with a powerful, personal feeling of being overwhelmed and inspired, afraid and attracted all at once. While teaching her how to swim, Annie also taught her how to safely approach wild dolphins, what other sea life was safe, and what to say away from. The more accustomed she became to swimming in the ocean, the more Tansy began to push the envelope and explore. She swam side by side with whales and even sharks. It was dangerous but thrilling, and she found that as long as you respected a shark's territory, most of them wouldn't bother coming after you. The one time a shark did try to attack her, she was fortunate enough to be saved by a pod of dolphins she was on friendly terms with, and they helped her fight it off. Tansy loved the ocean, and it loved her back. It was a terrifying, beautiful, and awesome environment that she had the utmost respect for.

The ocean had taught her many things. The best way to observe a fish is to become a fish. Saltwater heals everything. When a wave comes, go deep. The best view comes under the deepest surface. Life itself was like the ocean: it could be calm or still, and rough or rigid, but in the end some kind of beauty could always be found in it, if you knew how to look. The most important lesson she learned from the oysters: she didn't have to stay wounded. Sand irritated and hurt the oysters, and the oysters responded by turning it into a beautiful pearl. They showed her that it was possible to allow difficulties and challenges to serve her transformation into whatever kind of person she wanted to blossom into in a constructive way. The world was her oyster. It was up to her to find the pearls.

Tansy knew it was time to go when she saw the flickering light of the lantern being held over the side of their boat to call her back to it. Surfacing carefully, she dropped her net of shellfish into the bucket and hoisted herself up over the side while her father kept the boat steady. He had caught some nice cod and halibut, so they had plenty of ingredients to make a good fisherman's stew, enough to share with the neighbors tonight.

Tonight. After the reaping, everyone was supposed to celebrate. And a lot of people did, out of relief their children had been spared for another year. But at least two families would pull their shutters, lock their doors, and try to figure out how they will survive the painful weeks to come. The reaping was normally better received in 4 than it was in 11, because 4 was one of the districts that produced career tributes, children who had undergone special training for years in order to prepare for the games. Although this was technically against the rules, no one had ever done anything to stop it. Most of the Careers came from 4's community home. Boy or girl, many of them saw it as an opportunity to escape a dull future of canning and gain a better status for him or her. The district also benefited if a local tribute won. However, this was an awkward year for the Careers. None of the girls who were still eligible to volunteer as tributes had reached a level where their trainers felt comfortable recommending them. The current pool of female Careers had all either become to old, were still too young, or too lacking in talent to volunteer without it being considered suicide. And to have them die now, before they reached their full potential and stood a real chance of winning would be a waste of all the resources contributed to their training. So now there was no telling who would be sent to fight from among the girls. All bets were off this year. It would most likely end with whoever was unlucky enough to have their name picked.

"Red sky at morning, sailor's warning," her father said abruptly with a glance at the cloudy crimson sky. It was a good thing they went out when they did. They could tell by a feeling in the air and the shape of the clouds that the ocean was going to get rougher as the day wore on. It felt like a bad omen. Tansy shivered in the breeze.

The sky was a rosy pink by the time they reached home. Tansy and her father were greeted by the smell of tea, toasted bread, baking eggs, sardines, shallots, and garlic. Discarding their shoes, they followed their noses into the kitchen and found Annie removing the pot of fisherman's eggs (a lot of dishes started with _fisherman_ here), which she had made using the leftover fish in the icebox, from the oven. She was already wearing the necklace Tansy had made for her. They had returned just in time for breakfast.

The family of three sat down at the table to eat together. Annie chatted cheerfully about the schedule for the day and the plans she had made. She was delighted to hear they had such a good catch.

"Maybe later, after the reaping, we can go foraging for some wild figs," Annie said excitedly. "They always taste better when you pick them yourself."

"Figs aren't in season yet," Tansy replied. Seeing her sister's disappointed face, she quickly added, "But Mags said we were welcome to help ourselves to some of her oranges while she's gone."

As mentors, Mags and Finnick would both be going to the Capitol along with the tributes and were expected to do their best to help whoever was unlucky enough to be chosen. Annie brightened at the idea of being able to enjoy some sweet oranges, but they all held an unspoken concern for their friends. It couldn't be easy, going through that process over and over again, having to watch when the tributes they were responsible for who couldn't win die.

Annie quickly started chatting again to fill the silence, suggesting they make the stew for lunch instead since she just remembered that she had invited Finnick and Mags to stop by before the reaping, if they had time. Then she told their father he should go ahead and take a bath first, because it was going to take hours to undo all of Tansy's braids. Since there was no work today, it was the perfect time to let her hair have a chance to breathe.

After breakfast, the girls washed and dried the dishes while their father started drawing his bath. While Annie carefully undid Tansy's protective hairstyle, Tansy began cleaning and prepping their latest catch. And she found a pearl, literally. Usually, one had to sift through nearly two tons of oysters before finding a decent pearl, even in the farms. But when she popped open one of the abalones that she had gathered to remove the meat and clean the shell, there was a medium-sized blue pearl with an iridescent sheen of shimmering green and purple. Abalone pearls were incredibly rare because they could not be cultured like the pearls from mussels and oysters. Tansy considered putting it aside for their collection of emergency funds but decided to give it to Annie for good luck. Since she was eighteen-years-old, this would be her last reaping. All she had to do was survive this one without getting picked, and she would be home free.

A tub of warm water waited for Tansy when Annie had finished helping her unwind the last of her braids. She scrubbed off the sand and salt from the ocean and beach and carefully massaged her hair with shampoo, making sure she got rid of whatever gunk might have accumulated in the parts of the braids that were harder to keep clean. Then she applied some coconut oil to it and waited a few minutes for it to soak in before rinsing her hair again. When she vacated the tub so Annie could have her turn, Tansy found her sister had laid out a lovely dress for her, a soft and frilly pink thing with a blue bow tied around the waist and a matching hair ribbon and shoes. Most likely because they were expected to dress up today and, if left to her own devices, Tansy would have undoubtedly chosen her outfit for comfort rather than appearance. She shrugged and put it on, and tied the blue ribbon around her damp curly hair like a headband. With her conch pearl choker in place, she was good to go.

Tansy went into the kitchen, put on an apron to protect her dress, and started making lunch. She toasted some more bread while she prepped the herbs and vegetables. When the bread was done, she removed it from the oven and wrapped it in a clean towel to keep it warm. The recipe for fisherman's stew was very flexible. You could use any seafood you wanted as long as you got the sauce right. She started by heating up the pot and sautéing some chopped onions in butter. Then she added some minced garlic and red pepper flakes and sautéed those for thirty seconds. Next she added a few cans of diced tomatoes and their juices, some parsley and basil. She brought the mixture to a boil and added the cod and halibut and all of the shellfish. She covered it, brought the heat down to low, and cooked it about ten minutes, until the mussels and clams opened and the fish were opaque throughout. After that, it was ready to serve.

There was a knock at the door. Tansy removed the apron and answered it. She was greeted by Mags with a hug.

"Smells good," Mags praised her, enjoying the delicious aroma permeating the Cresta home.

Tansy returned her hug and a smiled warmly at her. She kept her distance from Finnick and greeted him with a polite smile. She wasn't as comfortable with him. Even though he had been dating Annie for a year, Tansy could count the number of times she had met him in person on one hand.

Finnick Odair was something of a living legend in Panem. Since he won the Sixty-fifth Hunger Games when he was only fourteen, he was still one of the youngest victors. Being from District 4, he was a Career, so the odds were already in his favor, but what no trainer could claim to have given him was his extraordinary beauty. Tall, athletic, with golden skin and bronze-colored hair and those incredible eyes. They were sea green like Annie's, only much deeper, the kind you could drown in if you weren't careful. Tansy had seen his game five years ago when she was still living in 11. While other tributes that year were hard-pressed to get a handful of grain or some matches for a gift, Finnick had never wanted for anything, not food or medicine or weapons. It took about a week for his competitors to realize that he was the one to kill, but it was too late. He was already good with the spears and knives he had found in the Cornucopia. When he received a silver parachute with a trident—which may be the most expensive gift she had ever seen given in the arena—it was all over. District 4's industry is fishing. He had been on boats his whole life. The trident was a natural, deadly extension of his arm. He wove a net out of some kind of vine he found, used it to entangle his opponents so he could spear them with the trident, and within a matter of days the crown was his. The citizens of the Capitol have been drooling over him ever since.

Because of his youth, they couldn't really touch him for the first year or two. But ever since he turned sixteen, he's spent his time at the Games being dogged by those desperately in love with him. No one retains his favor for long. He can go through four or five in his annual visit. Old or young, lovely or plain, rich or very rich, he would keep them company and take their extravagant gifts, but he never stayed, and once he was gone, he never came back.

Tansy couldn't argue that Finnick Odair wasn't one of the most stunning, sensuous people on the planet. But for all his exceptional good looks, he seemed a little too full of himself for her taste. She could honestly say he had never been attractive to her. Maybe he was too pretty, or maybe he was too easy to get, or maybe it was really just that he would be too easy to lose. However, if Annie and Mags liked him, she figured he couldn't be all bad. Still, his serial flings made her worried for Annie. She didn't want him to break her sister's heart.

Finnick smirked when he saw what she was wearing. "Nice dress," he remarked. He seemed to enjoy teasing her whenever they met.

Tansy gave him a frown. "Shut up. Annie picked it."

As if summoned by the mere mention of her name, Annie appeared, fresh and clean, wearing the necklace Tansy made for her and a flowing sea green dress that matched her eyes with her hair pulled up in a wispy half twist. She smiled brightly when she saw their guests.

"Finnick! Mags!" she greeted each of them with a hug. She called out to their father to let him know it was time to eat.

Lunch was pleasant, despite Finnick's teasing, which Tansy began to suspect might have served partly to distract everyone from their worries about the upcoming reaping. At one o'clock, the five of them headed for the town square. Attendance was mandatory unless you were on death's door. This evening, officials will come around and check to see if this was the case. If not, you'd be imprisoned.

It was too bad, really, that they held the reaping in the square. The square was near the harbor and surrounded by colorful shops, and on public market days, especially if there was good weather, it had a holiday feel to it. But that day, despite the bright banners hanging on the buildings, there was an air of grimness. The blue sky was darkening to a dull grey. The camera crews, perched like buzzards on rooftops, only added to the effect.

People filed in silently to sign in. The reaping was a good opportunity for the Capitol to keep tabs on the population as well. Twelve- through eighteen-year-olds were herded into roped areas marked off by ages, the oldest in the front, the young ones toward the back. Family members lined up around the perimeter, holding tightly to one another's hands. But there were others, too, who had no one they loved at stake, or who no longer cared, who slipped among the crowd, taking bets on the two kids whose names would be drawn. Odds were given on their ages, whether they would be Careers or unprepared tributes, if they would break down and weep. Most refused the dealing with the racketeers but carefully. These people tended to be informers.

The Crestas and the two victors parted ways. It was time to assume their respective places for the reaping. As past victors and this year's mentors Mags and Finnick would be expected to appear on stage. Annie gave everyone a hug and a kiss. Tansy hugged their father and Mags and gave Finnick a small wave as they turned to leave. The space got tighter, more claustrophobic as people arrived. The square was quite large, but not enough to hold District 4's population of about one hundred and twelve thousand. Latecomers were directed to the adjacent streets, where they could watch the event on screens as it was televised live by the state.

Tansy found herself standing in a clump of fourteen-year-olds from Canning Row that were in her class at school. Among them was Mari Strand, the daughter of a canning factory foreman. Tansy supposed they could be called friends, at least Annie thought they were, but the two girls had mostly ended up together because neither of them really seemed to fit in anywhere else. Many of the girls in their group were attempting to smile but they all exchanged terse nods then focused their attention on the temporary stage that was set up before the Justice Building. It held seven chairs, a podium, and two large glass balls, one for the boys and one for the girls. Tansy stared at the paper slips in the girls' ball. Three of them had _Tansy Cresta_ written on them in careful handwriting. Seven of them had _Annie Cresta_.

Two of the seven chairs were filled with Mayor Seymour, who was a tall man with wavy brown hair, and Priscilla Lush, District 4's escort, fresh from the capitol with her scary white grin, violet hair, and neon green skirt-suit that had square sleeves patterned with pastel pink, blue, orange, and gold sequins. The other chairs were filled with Finnick, Mags, and the rest of the surviving victors of District 4.

Just as the clock struck two, the mayor stepped up to the podium and began to read. It was the same story every year. He told of the history of Panem, the country that rose up out of the ashes of a place that was once called North America. He listed the disasters, the droughts, the storms, the fires, the encroaching seas that swallowed up so much of the land, the brutal war for what little sustenance remained. The result was Panem, a shining Capitol ringed by thirteen districts, which brought peace and prosperity to its citizens. Then came the Dark Days, the uprising of the districts against the Capitol. Twelve were defeated, the thirteenth obliterated. The Treaty of Treason had given us the new laws to guarantee peace, and as our yearly reminder that the Dark Days must never be repeated, it had given us the Hunger Games.

The rules of the Hunger Games were simple. In punishment for the uprising, each of the twelve districts must provide one girl and one boy, called tributes, to participate. The twenty-four tributes would be imprisoned in a vast outdoor arena that could hold anything from a burning desert to a frozen wasteland. Over a period of several weeks, the competitors must fight to the death. The last tribute standing wins.

Taking the kids from our districts, forcing them to kill one another while we watched—this was the Capitol's way of reminding us how completely we were at their mercy. How little chance we would stand of surviving another rebellion. Whatever words they used, the message was clear. "Look how we take your children and sacrifice them and there's nothing you can do. If you lift a finger, we will destroy every last one of you. Just as we did in District 13."

To make it humiliating as well as torturous, the Capitol required the districts to treat the Hunger Games as a festivity, a sporting event pitting every district against the others. The last tribute alive received a life of ease back home, and their district would be showered with prizes, largely consisting of food. All year, the Capitol would show the winning district gifts of grain and oil and even delicacies like sugar while the rest of them battled starvation.

"It is both a time for repentance and a time for thanks," intoned the mayor.

Then he read the list of past District 4 victors. It was much longer than the one they had in 11. Five are still alive, including Finnick and Mags. The crowd responded with its token applause, which naturally reached a roar that was punctuated by several squeals when Finnick's name was called and he stood up and graced the crowd with a smile.

He caught the unimpressed look on Tansy's face among the crowd and gave her wink. Tansy rolled her eyes in response when several of the girls around her started giggling uncontrollably and few of them even fainted, each convinced the playful wink had been meant for her. Mari raised an eyebrow at Tansy and gave her a look to let her know she thought all their classmates were idiots. Tansy suppressed a small smile.

Once the crowd had calmed down the mayor introduced Priscilla Lush. Bright and bubbly as ever, Priscilla trotted to the podium in her ridiculously high heels and gave her signature, "Happy Hunger Games! And may the odds be _ever_ in your favor." She went on a bit about what an honor it was to be here, how she looked forward to escorting another future victor from 4.

Through the crowd, Tansy spotted Annie looking back at her with a nervous smile, trying to silently reassure her that everything was going to be all right. But now Tansy was thinking again of her sister and her seven names in that big glass ball and how the odds are never in anyone's favor. Seven wasn't so bad, really. Not compared to the odds most of the children had back in 11. But this was 4. Aside from the seldom few who occasionally did need to apply for tesserae, the odds were good for everyone in 4. Which really meant the odds were fairly even and almost anyone could be picked. Annie turned away to focus on the stage again.

It was time for the drawing. Priscilla Lush said as she always did, "Ladies first!" and crossed to the glass ball with the girls' names. She reached in, dug her hand deep into the ball, and pulled out a slip of paper. The crowd drew in a collective breath and then one could hear a pin drop. Tansy was feeling nauseous, clutching her conch pearl for security, and so desperately hoping that it wouldn't be her, that it wouldn't be her or Annie, who only had one year left before she would be safe.

Priscilla Lush crossed back to the podium, smoothed the slip of paper, and read out the name in a clear voice. And it wasn't Tansy.

It was Annie Cresta.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Volunteers**

* * *

One time, when Tansy was first learning how to harvest fruit from trees in the orchards of District 11, she reached out too far on an unsteady branch, lost her balance, and fell eight feet to the ground, landing on her back. It was as if the impact had knocked every wisp of air from her lungs, and she lay there struggling to inhale, exhale, to do anything.

That was how she felt now, trying to remember how to breathe, unable to speak, totally stunned as the name bounced around the inside of her skull. Someone is gripping her arm, Mari and another girl from Canning Row, and Tansy thought maybe she had started to fall and they caught her.

There had to be some mistake. This couldn't be happening. Seven slips in over a hundred thousand. Why did it have to be Annie? Why did this have to happen on a year when there were no ready Careers? When there was no one else to take her place?

Somewhere far away, Tansy could hear the crowd. Some, those who knew and loved Annie were murmuring unhappily. Most clapped out of habit. A few idiots even shouted out cheers of congratulations. And then Tansy saw her, the blood drained from her face, hands clenched in fists at her sides around bunches of her long skirt. She walked with small, stiff steps up toward the stage. She let go of her skirt and clutched at the seahorse charm on her necklace. It was this detail, her clinging to the necklace that Tansy had made for her that brought the fourteen-year-old girl back to herself.

"Annie!" The strangled cry came out of her throat, and her muscles began to move again. "Annie!"

Mari tried to hold her back, but Tansy broke away and pushed forward. The other kids made way immediately and allowed her a straight path to the stage. She reached Annie just as she was about to mount the steps. Tansy reached out and grabbed her sister's sleeve, stopping her. Annie's eyes were wide with fear and surprise.

"I volunteer!" Tansy gasped before she could tell her to go back. "I volunteer as tribute!"

There was some confusion on stage. The rule was that once a tribute's name had been pulled from the ball, another eligible boy, if a boy's name had been read, or girl, if a girl's name had been read, could step forward to take his or her place. In some districts, like 4, in which winning the reaping was considered a great honor, people were eager to risk their lives, and the volunteering was complicated. But not this year. This year, no one else was supposed to volunteer for the girls. Volunteering for the games when you weren't a trained Career was pretty much an act of suicide.

"Lovely," said Priscilla Lush, "but I believe there's an order to these things, you know. It's a small matter of introducing the reaping winner and then asking for volunteers, and if more volunteers do come forth then…"

The mayor cut her off. "What does it matter?" he said. They all knew that every year the Careers planning to volunteer signed up ahead of time so they could narrow the list down to the one before reaping day to save time. There was no one else and they all knew it. "What does it matter?" he repeated gruffly. He was looking at Tansy with a pained expression on his face. He didn't know her really, but there was a faint recognition there. She was the strange girl who, four years ago, came to District 4 from the outside, from one of the poorest districts in Panem. Underfed and malnourished, despite being the daughter of a victor. Quiet and small, staring straight ahead with eyes that had already seen too much for someone so young. She should know better than anyone what she was getting herself into. "Let her come forward."

Annie was screaming hysterically behind her. She had wrapped her arms around her like a vice.

"No! No, Tansy! You can't go!"

"It's all right, Annie," Tansy said, managing to sound calmer than she felt. She was grateful for that at least. She wanted to turn and look at her sister, give her a smile to try to make her feel better. But she couldn't, because this was upsetting her and she didn't want to cry. When they televised the replay of the reapings tonight everyone would make note of her tears, and she would be marked as an easy target. A weakling. She needed to appear strong right now. For herself and for Annie. "It's all right, Annie. You can let go."

"No!" Annie cried. "Take me instead!"

"It's too late. It doesn't work that way," Tansy reminded her.

She could feel someone pulling her sister from her back. Tansy turned and saw that their father had lifted Annie up off the ground as easily as if she was still a small child, and she was thrashing in his arms. "Go on, Tansy," he said, in a voice he was fighting to keep steady, and then he carried Annie off toward where he had been standing on the side. Tansy steeled herself and climbed the steps.

Her eyes met with Finnick's and Mags'. In them was a mixture of shock, pity, understanding, admiration, and fear for her safety. Their faces were still pale and drawn from the shock of hearing Annie's name read.

Finnick recovered first, quickly adopting a more gregarious mask to hide his true feelings on the matter, as Priscilla began gushing over Tansy.

"Well, bravo! That's the spirit of the Games!" Apparently she had decided to ignore Annie's shrieking display of grief. Her smile looked tighter than usual. "What's your name, sweetheart?"

Tansy swallowed hard. "Tansy Cresta," she answered.

"I bet my baubles that girl was part of your family. Don't want her to steal all the glory, do we? Come on, everybody! Let's give a big round of applause to our newest tribute!" trilled Priscilla Lush.

The applause was scattered and confused, almost nonexistent, a rarity in District 4. Even a few of the people holding betting slips, the ones who are usually beyond caring, remained silent. Possibly because they knew Tansy as the strange fruit from 11, and knew how much the odds were against her, or because they knew her father, or Annie, who no one could help loving. Standing before that crowd that knew she was being sent to her death, it was all Tansy could do not to throw up. So instead of acknowledging the applause, she stood there silent and unmoving, like a statue.

Then something unexpected happened. At least, she hadn't expected it because she didn't think of District 4 as a place that particularly cared about her outside of her small circle. Others had always viewed her as though she was some kind of rare animal and kept their distance. But a shift had occurred since she stepped up to take Annie's place, and now it seemed she had become someone precious. At first one, then another, then almost every member of the crowd brought their right hand up to touch their right temple, palm down, in a salute. It was an old and rarely used gesture in the district, occasionally still seen at funerals of people whose families had been sailing since before the creation of Panem. It was a sign of respect, it meant thanks, it meant farewell to someone you admired.

Now Tansy truly was in danger of crying, but fortunately Finnick chose that moment to come forward and congratulate her. He put a steady arm around her to make sure she wouldn't start shaking in front of everyone and gave her a firm handshake as he greeted her, and he quietly encouraged her to smile and make nice for the cameras and the audience. He called out to Annie not to worry, reminded her that her little sister would be in good hands.

The Capitol was watching. It wouldn't be good for any of them to stand out as a reason for people to show dissent towards the games. In the worst case, an unenthusiastic response or lack of support from the crowd in District 4, one of the Capitol's darlings, could be taken as small form of rebellion. He knew how dangerous it was to be targeted.

Finnick redirected the audience's attention back to Priscilla Lush, who was ready to move on to the boys. As he stepped away from her, Tansy put her hands behind her back and stared into the distance. She could see part of the harbor. Tansy wished she could dive into the water and disappear.

"What an exciting day!" Priscilla warbled. "But more excitement to come! It's time to choose our boy tribute!" She crossed the stage to the ball that contained the boys' names and grabbed the first slip she encountered. She zipped back to the podium and read the name. "Kevin Fischer."

Kevin Fischer!

'Oh, no,' Tansy thought. 'Not him.' Because she recognized this boy. His father worked on the same crew as theirs, and she and Annie had even babysat him on occasion while their fathers were away on an extended fishing expedition.

She watched him as he made his way toward the stage. He had only just turned twelve. Short height, stocky build, copper red hair that framed his face like a curly mop. The shock of the moment was registering in his expression. You could see him struggle to remain calm, but his hazel eyes showed the alarm he felt. Seeing how Tansy had to volunteer to save Annie had deeply unnerved him. He was not a Career either. Yet he followed Tansy's example and climbed steadily onto the stage and took his place.

Then Priscilla Lush asked for volunteers, and Tansy didn't even have time to wish for his safety when a strapping sixteen-year-old stepped forward and boldly declared his intention to volunteer. Tansy couldn't place his name but she recognized his face. She had seen him around town and knew he frequented the training center for Careers. Judging by the expressions on the faces in the crowd, his decision to volunteer had come as no surprise. They must have chosen him to represent the district for the boys this year. After all, it was only the girls who lacked a decent representative this year.

Once again, Tansy watched as the new tribute made his way toward the stage. He was tall, muscular, with bronze skin, and dark hair that fell in waves over his forehead. He was proud, confident. His blue eyes shined without a trace of fear. He hopped excitedly onto the stage and took his place, while Kevin Fischer was promptly dismissed and sent back down to the crowd. The younger boy could not hide his relief, and Tansy couldn't blame him. She didn't want to be up there either. She was glad she would at least be spared the possibility of having to fight someone she used to sing lullabies to.

Kevin's replacement needed very little encouragement from Priscilla or the crowd. He introduced himself with a winning smile. "My name is Sean Halloran," he said cockily, "You may want to remember that, because it's the name you'll be hearing when they announce the next victor." He was almost as handsome as Finnick and twice as full of himself.

The applause was steady this time, but there was no salute. Finnick crossed the stage and congratulated Sean Halloran. He smiled and shook his hand for the cameras as well. Then he moved back to his seat beside Mags. It was the mayor's turn to speak next.

The mayor began to read the long, dull Treaty of Treason as he does every year at this point—it's required—but Tansy wasn't listening to a word.

She was looking out at the harbor again, reminding herself of all the reasons why she couldn't run. If she wasn't there, then who would replace Annie? Annie had to be saved. Annie wasn't a Career. Annie knew how to identify edible sea life and had average skills with a trident. Tansy could identify edible and medicinal plants on land as well as in the Ocean. Tansy could also use a trident and was handy with a slingshot, too. The only real advantage that Annie had over her was being four years older. She was too kind and gentle for the games. Annie would die, or, maybe even worse, they would destroy her the same way they destroyed Tansy's mother. Tansy refused to sit back and watch that happen to her. Tansy knew she still had four years worth of chances to be picked left. Who was to say that she wouldn't have been reaped next year anyway? If that was the case, she may as well get it over with now, especially if it meant being able to save Annie. After this year, Annie would be too old to be reaped. She would be safe then. That alone made the terror worth it.

The mayor finished the dreary Treaty of Treason and motioned for Sean and Tansy to shake hands. His are as solid and warm as rocks in the sun. Sean looked her right in the eye and tilted his head slightly as though he wasn't sure what to make of her.

They turned back to face the crowd as the anthem of Panem played.

'Oh, well,' Tansy thought, 'maybe I'll get lucky.' Maybe her death would be quick since the odds were against her.

The moment the anthem ended, Tansy and Sean were taken into custody. They weren't handcuffed or anything, but a group of Peacekeepers marched them through the front door of the Justice Building. Maybe tributes had tried to escape in the past. Tansy had never seen that happen though.

Once inside, she was conducted to a room and left alone. It was the richest place she had ever been in, with thick, deep carpets and a velvet couch and chairs. She knew velvet because her mother used to have an old dress made of the stuff. When she sat on the couch, she couldn't help running her fingers over the fabric repeatedly. It helped to calm her as she tried to prepare for the next hour. The time allotted for the tributes to say good-bye to their loved ones. She could not afford to get upset, to leave this room with puffy eyes and a red nose. Crying was not an option. There would be more cameras at the train station.

Annie and her father came first. Tansy reached out to Annie and she sat down beside her and wrapped her arms around her in a tight hug. Their father sat on the other side of Tansy and rubbed her back in soothing circles like he did when she was younger and up all night with a nasty chest cold. For a few minutes, they said nothing. Then Annie started crying again, apologizing through her tears. Tansy felt a familiar ache in her chest, but it wasn't a cold. It felt like someone had reached inside and given her heart a sharp squeeze. Tansy tightened her grip on her sister and told her she didn't have anything to apologize for, that she had made her own choice. It wasn't Annie's fault. Whatever happened from now on, none of it was her fault. Tansy didn't want her to be sad.

Then she started telling Annie and their father all the things they must remember to do, now that she would not be there with them. It was mostly little things like how Annie should take extra care while foraging, because she always mixed up elderberries with pokeberries, and pokeberries were poisonous.

"We'll be all right, Tansy," said Annie, clasping her younger sister's face in her hands. "But you have to take care, too. You're so fast and brave and smart. Maybe you can win."

Tansy looked at her sister. She couldn't win. Annie must know that in her heart. The competition would be far beyond her abilities. Kids like Sean Halloran, who had been trained their whole lives for this. Boys who were two to three times her size. Girls who knew twenty ways to kill you with a knife. Oh, there would be people like her, too. People to be weeded out before the real fun began.

"Maybe," Tansy said, because she could hardly tell them to carry on if she had already given up on herself. Besides, it wasn't in her nature to go down without a fight, even when things seemed insurmountable. Her days in 11 had taught her that. "Then we'd be rich as Finnick and Mags. Either way, at least you're safe now."

"I don't care about that. I don't care if we're rich. I just want you to come home. You'll try, won't you? I mean really, really try?" Annie asked urgently, practically begging.

"I will. I'll really try, I swear," Tansy said. And she knew, because of Annie, she would have to. Because at that moment she realized that if she didn't win, Annie would never forgive herself. And that was unacceptable.

Then the Peacekeeper was at the door, signaling their time was up, and they were all hugging one another so hard it hurt and all Tansy could say was "I love you. I love you both." And they were saying it back and Annie was pushing the abalone pearl into her hand for good luck, and then the Peacekeeper ordered them out and the door closed. Tansy clutched the pearl in her hand and buried her head in one of the velvet pillows as if this could block the whole thing out.

Someone else entered the room, and when she looked up, she was surprised to see one of the boys from her school, Dylan Billows. It was strange to see him there. He was from the rich part of town, a quiet boy who usually kept to himself. The only time they had ever directly interacted with each other was when he got grouped with her and Mari for a school project. Even then, he had hardly spoken a word to her. So why had he come to see her now?

Dylan stood awkwardly before her. He was fidgeting and holding something behind his back. Suddenly, he threw his hands out in front of him and shoved the small package into her hands, blurted out the words "I've always liked you!", and dashed out of the room without waiting to hear her answer.

Tansy stared after him, stunned. She never would have guessed. Inside the white paper package was a whole assortment of brightly colored candies. They were a luxury that she could rarely afford. Sugar was expensive and very valuable. The amount of money he must have paid for such a large amount made her head spin.

Her next guest was also unexpected. Mari walked straight to her. She was not weepy or evasive, instead there was an urgency to her tone that surprised Tansy.

"Listen to me," she said. "You can win this. It's not impossible. You never talk about it, but you're someone with skills and knowledge from two different districts. That means you should be more well-rounded than any of the other tributes. That's got to be worth something. You've swum with sharks! If you can do that, you can do anything. Promise me you'll try."

Tansy wanted to argue that humans were scarier than sharks, because they were trickier. Because only humans killed each other simply for sport. Instead she said, "I promise."

Mari stared at her, gazing searchingly for what felt like a long while. Then she hugged Tansy and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Then she was gone and Tansy was left thinking that maybe Mari really had been her friend all along. Tansy looked down at the package of candy sitting in her lap. She wished she had at least offered one to her before she left.

Tansy sat there in silence, waiting for the door to open again. She didn't know how long she sat there before Mags finally poked her head in and joined her. Apparently, no one else was coming, otherwise Mags wouldn't have bothered using up part of her visiting hour, since they would have up until the start of the game to settle their affairs with each other.

Mags sat down beside her on the velvet couch and gave her a small smile and a reassuring pat on the hand. Tansy offered her some candy. Mags selected a bright green one with yellow stripes and popped it into her mouth. She made a face at the sour flavor that earned her a little laugh from Tansy, but her mirth was short-lived. Tansy leaned her head against Mags and rested it on her shoulder. Together the two of them waited in silence for the hour to run out. The Peacekeepers were back too soon and Mags had to leave. The mentors were going to the train station in their own car, but they would see each other again on the train.

It was a short ride from the Justice Building to the train station. The only other time Tansy had ever been in a car before was when she was taken to the train station near District 11 to be sent off to live in 4. She had occasionally ridden in wagons, but in both 11 and 4 she mostly traveled on foot.

She had been right not to cry. The station was swarming with reporters with their insectlike cameras trained directly on her face. But Tansy had lots of practice at putting on a brave face and she did it now. She caught a glimpse of herself on the television screen on the wall that was airing her arrival live and felt gratified that she appeared almost bored.

Sean Halloran, on the other hand, was positively beaming and appeared to be doing his best to ensure the cameras captured his good side. Tansy immediately wondered if this would be his strategy in the games. To make himself as visually appealing as possible in order to attract as many sponsors as possible. She wondered if his plan was to try to become the next Finnick Odair. The problem with that was there was only one true Finnick Odair, and standing next to him would make anyone look plain.

They had to stand for a few minutes in the doorway of the train while the cameras gobbled up their images, then they were allowed inside and the doors closed mercifully behind them. The train began to move at once.

The speed initially took Tansy's breath away. She had been on a train once before, but that was years ago. Travel between the districts was normally forbidden except for officially sanctioned duties. For District 4, that was mainly transporting seafood and pearls. They could create an artificial version in District 1, but natural pearls were still in popular demand. There was nothing like the beauty of pearl that had been cultivated in the wild. But this was no ordinary shipping train. It was one of the high-speed Capitol models that averaged 250 miles per hour. Their journey to the Capitol would take less than a day.

In school, they said the Capitol was built in a place once called the Rockies. District 4 was in a region known as California. Even hundreds of years ago, they harvested seafood and pearls there.

Somehow it all came back to seafood in school. In 11 it was agriculture. Besides basic reading and math most of their instruction in 4 was related to the fishing industry. Except for the weekly lecture on the history of Panem. It was mostly a lot of bubble and froth about what they owed the Capitol. Tansy knew there must be more than they were telling them, an actual account of what happened during the rebellion. But she didn't spend much time thinking about it. She had trained herself not to.

When she was younger, she scared her mother to death, the things questions she would ask and the things she would blurt out about District 11, about the people who ruled their country, Panem, from the far-off city called the Capitol. Eventually she understood this would only lead them into more trouble. Especially when her mother was so frightened by what she was saying one day, because they were out in public where anyone could overhear, that she panicked and slapped her that first and only time just to make her stop. So Tansy learned to hold her tongue and to put on a brave face and do her best to smile even when she was unhappy so that no one would ever know what she was really thinking. She did her work quietly at school. Made only polite small talk in the public market. Discussed little more than work, diving, and harmless things like fishing and collecting seashells. Even at home she avoided discussing tricky topics. Like the reaping, or food shortages, or the Hunger Games. The ever-looming threat of punishment by the strict and harsh Peacekeepers of 11 and her mother's extreme fear had been seared into her memory. She didn't want to make trouble for Annie and their father. Whatever the truth was, she didn't see how it would help them put food on the table.

The tribute train was fancier than even the room in the Justice Building. They were each given their own chambers that had a bedroom, dressing area, and a private bathroom with hot and cold running water.

There were drawers filled with fine clothes, and Priscilla Lush told Tansy to do anything she wanted, wear anything she wanted, everything was at her disposal. Just be ready for supper in an hour. Tansy didn't feel like facing the others again just yet. She peeled off the frilly pink dress Annie had picked out for her and took a warm shower. Tansy had had showers before, rinsing off sand in the locker room after work, but nothing like this. It was like being in a summer rain, only warmer. She put her choker back on and dressed in a blue shirt, pants, and a sweater. It was cold on the train.

Priscilla Lush came to collect her for supper. Tansy followed her through the narrow, rocking corridor into the dining room with polished paneled walls. There was a table where all the dishes were highly breakable. Tansy made a note to avoid that. Mags, Finnick, and Sean Halloran sat waiting for them. Sean was already talking Finnick's ear off about trident techniques. Tansy took the empty seat next to Mags.

The supper came in courses. A thick celery soup, green salad, quail and corn stuffing smothered in a blueberry sauce, cheese and fruit, a chocolate cake with cherries. Throughout the meal, Priscilla kept reminding Tansy to save space because there was more to come. But Tansy was stuffing herself because she'd never had food like this, so good and so much—it was even better than the food in 4, which had been a phenomenal improvement over the bland scraps in 11—and because she was not in the habit of leaving food on her plate.

"Well," said Finnick, "glad to see you still have an appetite."

"Yeah, you looked like you were going to throw up when you were on stage," Sean added with a smirk.

Tansy shrugged. She felt strangely calm after her shower. "I don't know, guess I'm still in shock. Maybe my body's saving up for a nervous breakdown."

"Just make sure you don't have it in the arena," said Finnick.

"Your compassion is overwhelming," Tansy quipped, stuffing another spoonful of dessert in her mouth.

Finnick and Mags were relieved. They were still worried about her, but it was a good sign if she still had enough spirit left to make jokes.

Tansy noticed Sean was staring at her. "What?"

"I just think you have a lot of guts talking to a victor like that," he said, as if she had done something daring.

"I've had worse," Finnick said with a dismissively. He smirked. "I still remember the first time we met. She shook my hand with a crushing grip, leaned in real close, and told me: 'I don't care who you are. If you hurt my sister in anyway, I'll break your face.'"

Now Sean and Priscilla were both staring at Tansy as if she had grown a second head. Threatening to rearrange Finnick's perfect face was beyond blasphemous.

"Did I?" Tansy asked, surprised. She glanced at Mags, who nodded in confirmation. "I don't remember that. But I wouldn't be surprised if I forgot. I blame the punch. I didn't realize it was spiked until it was too late, so I ended up drinking too much and got drunk. Sorry. I didn't mean to say something like that."

Finnick raised an eyebrow at her. "So it was an empty threat?"

Tansy's lips curled into a small but wicked smile. "Oh, no. I'll definitely break your face if you hurt her. I just didn't mean to say it out loud."

Finnick and Mags laughed. Sean looked confused. And Priscilla was wearing that tight, white smile again. Tansy wondered if that was the face she made when she was annoyed.

Tansy had begun to regret her decision to stuff her face. Now that the meal was over, she was fighting to keep the food down. Her stomach wasn't used to consuming such rich fare in such large amounts. But she was determined to hold onto it.

They went to another compartment to watch the recap of the reapings across Panem. They tried to stagger them throughout the day so a person could conceivably watch the whole thing live, but only people in the Capitol could really do that, since none of them had to attend reapings themselves.

One by one, they saw the other reapings, the names called, the volunteers stepping forward or, more often, not. They examined the faces of the kids who would be their competition. A few stood out in Tansy's mind. A monstrous boy who lunged forward to volunteer from District 2. A twitchy boy from District 3.

Next, they showed District 4. It felt surreal for Tansy to be watching it all happen again from the outside. Annie being called, her running forward to volunteer. You couldn't miss the desperation in her voice as she clutched Annie's sleeve to stop her, as if she was afraid no one would hear, and they would take Annie away. But, of course, they did hear. She saw her father pulling Annie off her and watched herself mount the stage. The commentators are not sure what to say about the crowd's hesitation. The silent salute. One said how unusual it was for a younger sibling to volunteer to save an older one. As if on cue, Finnick stepped forward to shake her hand and congratulate her. This seemed to mollify them a bit. The first commentator seemed very touched. Another made a stupid remark about not seeing the family resemblance between Tansy and Annie at all. Another revealed her 'impressive' lineage as the daughter of former victor Chicory Fields. Kevin's name was drawn and Sean volunteered, and sauntered up to the stage brimming with energy and smiles. The crowd responded with a stronger applause. The commentators interpreted that to mean he must be the local favorite. Finnick shook Sean's hand and congratulated him, too. The commentators were thrilled to have two handsome men on the stage at once. One of them made a joke that they may have their next Finnick Odair, but then he and the others laughed. That was impossible. She and Sean shook hands. They cut to the next district.

Another tribute who stood out to Tansy was a particularly small girl from District 7. And, most hauntingly, a fourteen-year-old girl and a fifteen-year-old boy from District 11. They both had dark brown skin and honey eyes and had slight builds, though the boy was taller and had more muscle. Anyone could tell they were siblings. And, worst of all, she knew them. Those were two faces That Tansy would never forget, no matter how much they changed. They were the faces of her two oldest and best friends. Pepper and Root Thresher. When they mounted the stage and volunteers were asked for, all you could hear was wind whistling through the decrepit buildings around them. There was no one willing to take his or her place. Tansy barely had time to make it over to the wastebasket in the corner before she started heaving her guts out. Of all the people they could have picked, why did it have to be those two?

Mags straightened up in alarm and shared a concerned look with Finnick, who stood up and crossed the room to hold Tansy's hair back for her while she finished emptying the contents of her stomach into the metal can. Priscilla and Sean watched and grimaced in disgust. When she was done, Tansy managed to give Finnick a small thanks. Priscilla Lush tutted with disapproval when she moved to wipe her mouth with her sleeve and quickly placed a silk handkerchief in Tansy's hand instead.

"You can keep it," the escort told her.

Last of all, they showed District 12. The girl walked with a limp that would make running or climbing trees difficult. She shook hands with the boy. They cut to the anthem again, and the program ended.

Priscilla Lush seemed relieved. "Well, good work, Finnick. That was quick thinking on your part. Those handshakes really helped to keep our reaping from becoming too awkward. I think everyone came of well in the end."

Mags nodded in agreement. She put an arm around Tansy when she returned to her seat beside her. She didn't know who Pepper and Root were to her, but it was obvious from Tansy's reaction that she must have known them at some point.

Priscilla announced that she was going to turn in early to catch up on her beauty sleep.

Sean snorted when she left the room. "Why call it beauty sleep, when she wakes up looking like a troll?"

"Don't let her hear you," Finnick said, casting a glance over his shoulder to make sure Priscilla wasn't about to pop back into the room and rip their boy tribute a new one.

"Not someone to cross," Mags agreed sagely. She turned to Tansy and patted her on the hand. "You should sleep, too."

Tansy wasn't sure she could, but she nodded obediently and stood up to leave. " 'Night," she said quietly and slipped out of the room.

"Good night!" Sean called after her, flashing a mock salute at her back.

"That was aimed at you, too," Finnick told him. "You should sleep while you can. I think everyone's had enough excitement for one day."

When Tansy got back to her room, the train was pausing at a platform to refuel. She opened the window in an attempt to get some fresh air, but quickly shut it again. It smelled too much like fumes from fuel outside. There was a patch of dandelions by the track. She only saw the image for a moment, but it was enough. Enough to remind her of those other dandelions on the side of another road in District 11 years ago…

She had just finished working a shift with Pepper and Root and their older brother Martin. They were walking home under the hot summer sun when they saw three dandelions growing on the side or the road. Four, one for each of them. They each grabbed one and carefully made a wish. For food. More food. Rain. And happiness. Then they blew on their weeds and scattered the puffy white seeds in the air. A couple of passing adults scolded them for helping the weeds to spread, but the three children were already hopping and skipping away. All along the way to Pepper and Root's home, they collected any and everything that was considered edible to add to their small collection of dandelions. No one cared about the weeds, so foraging for them was much safer than trying to take crops from the fields. That was a lesson Tansy and Pepper had learned the hard way. A few times they had to correct Martin, who would pluck things like grass and foxglove, which was poisonous. There was something different about Martin. He was a little slow, but he wasn't dumb. You just had to take time to explain things more carefully. He would get it eventually. Her friends also had another sibling, baby Finch. Finch was the sweetest little thing that Tansy had ever seen, but she screamed and wailed like a banshee when she was cranky. By the time they reached the shack the Thresher family lived in, Tansy and her friends had managed to gather a nice bundle of greens between them. Even though they had so little to share and were just barely surviving even with the tesserae, the Threshers never turned her away. Mr. and Mrs. Fresher always made sure she was getting enough to eat and would come with her to check on her mother when she needed help. Pepper and Root even showed her how to find food outside the fields for emergencies. She didn't know how she would have made it without them.

Tansy started to feel sick again. She had promised Annie and Mari that she would try to win, but there was no way she could kill those two. She reached into the package of sweets that she had left on the table beside the bed and popped a pink one into her mouth. It was sweet. So sweet she could cry. Tansy flopped back on the bed and stared at the smooth ceiling while she sucked on the hard candy, trying not to think. That was easier said than done.

She turned her head and stared out the train window, wondering what would happen if she tried to open it again at such a high speed. Probably best not to. In the distance, she could see the lights of another district. 6? 8? She didn't know. She thought about the people in their houses, settling in for bed. She imagined her home, with its shutters drawn tight. What were they doing now, her father and Annie? What did they decide to eat for supper? Were they able to eat anything at all? Or did it lie untouched on their plates? Did they watch the recap of the day's events on the old TV that sits on the table against the wall? Surely, there were more tears. How was Annie holding up? And their father, who probably wouldn't say a word even if he was suffering? He was undoubtedly doing his best to stay strong for Annie.

Annie would be sleeping alone tonight, too. For the first time in four years. If she cried, there would be no one lying there to hold her. She would be alone, crying with her face buried in the pillow until she exhausted herself and fell asleep. Tansy wished she could comfort her somehow.

Imagining her home made her ache with loneliness. This day had been endless. Could she and her father have gone out in the boat only that morning? It seemed like a lifetime ago. Like a long dream that deteriorated into a nightmare. Maybe, if she went to sleep, she would wake up in District 4, where she belonged. Unfortunately, she was wide awake. It would probably help if changed out of her clothes.

The drawers held an impressive number of nightgowns. Silk, satin, chiffon, embellished and expensive. But Tansy just stripped of her shirt and pants and pulled on a simple nightgown of soft cotton. The sheets were made of soft, silky fabric. A thick fluffy comforter gives immediate warmth.

If she was going to cry, now was the time to do it. By morning, she would be able to wash the damage done by the tears from her face. But no tears came. Just emptiness. The kind of sorrow that left you hollow inside. The only thing she felt was a desire to be somewhere else.

She was actually relieved to hear someone knock on her door. She got up and opened it to find Finnick standing in the hall, holding a cup of what looked like warm milk but smelled sweet like vanilla and cinnamon with a hint of honey.

"I thought you might have trouble sleeping," he explained. "This helps sometimes."

He was being so nice that Tansy was caught off guard and accidently bit her candy, shattering it with an extremely loud _crunch_.

Finnick stared at her. "What was that?"

Tansy finished chewing and swallowed. "Candy."

"Candy?" He asked, surprised.

"A boy from school gave it to me," she said, not sure why she felt the sudden need to explain.

Finnick raised and eyebrow and tried not to look too amused. "Oh?"

Tansy furrowed her brow and frowned slightly as she tried to avoid eye contact. "He said he liked me and ran away." She could feel her cheeks heating up. She hoped she wasn't blushing. But maybe if she was, Finnick would tease her about it and things would feel more normal.

"That's not surprising."

Tansy narrowed her eyes slightly at him and clenched one of her hands into a fist. She was tempted to let him have it, but the milk would make a mess if he dropped it. And was against her personal creed to waste food. "We can't all be as popular as you, you know."

Actually, Finnick was surprised there hadn't been more. The truth was he happened to know a lot of the boys around her age had a crush on her. It was just that none of them had the guts to do anything about it because they also found her intimidating. She was fairly tall for her age. But he had a feeling Tansy would punch him in the arm if he told her that. So instead he said, "Well, can I come in or are you going to make me stand out here all night?"

Tansy stood there and considered it for a moment before stepping aside to let him in. Once he was safely inside, he handed over the milk. His expression was grave.

"I promised Annie I would get you home."

Tansy was tempted to tell him he shouldn't make promises he couldn't keep, but she wasn't any better. "I promised her I'd try to win. But that's easier said than done."

"Because of those kids from 11?" he asked.

"Yeah." She looked at the floor and bit her lip. "We grew up together. They're my friends. I can't kill them, Finnick."

"Maybe you won't have to," he said grimly. "There will be twenty-four of you. Odds are someone else will take them out."

"Maybe," she said quietly, afraid she was going to be sick again. She didn't want that either.

Of course, the odds had not been very dependable of late.

Finnick waited with her while she drank her milk. It was warm and comforting, very soothing. She could feel herself relax despite her worries. He insisted on staying until she fell asleep, since he had promised Annie that he would take care of her. He knew she and Annie shared a room and a bed. He seemed to be under the impression that she was having trouble falling asleep because she was alone. He may have been right about that, but it was still mortifying to have him treat her so much like a child. He wasn't _that_ much older than her.

"Fine, but only for tonight," she eventually conceded. He wasn't going to be there to hold her hand in the games. She needed to get used to being alone again.

"Just for tonight," he agreed.

With that decided, he sat beside her bed in silence and watched while the warm milk took effect, and she let the train rock her into oblivion.

Gray light was leaking through the curtains when the rapping roused Tansy. She heard Priscilla Lush's voice calling her to rise. "Up, up, up! It's going to be a big, big day!" Tansy tried to imagine, for a moment, what it must be like in that woman's head. What thoughts filled her waking hours? What dreams came to her at night? She had no idea.

Tansy got up and saw the chair Finnick had been sitting in the previous night was empty. Of course it was. He would have gone back to his own bed to sleep. Otherwise, it would have been too weird if he had climbed in with her. She discarded her nightgown and put on a knee-length green dress. Tansy teased the knots out of her curls, but decided to leave her hair as it was. It didn't really matter. They couldn't be far from the Capitol now. And once they reached the city, her stylist would dictate her look for the opening ceremonies that night anyway. She just hoped she didn't get one who thought nudity was the last word in fashion.

As she entered the dining car, Priscilla Lush brushed by her with a cup of creamy coffee. She was muttering obscenities under her breath. Sean, whose face had a red handprint tattooed to the side of his face, was staring straight ahead, stunned. Tansy wondered what he had said to the escort to make her so mad. She gave Mags a questioning look.

"Nothing worth repeating," Mags replied with a shake of her head.

"That coffee smells amazing," Finnick remarked, coming up behind her. "Scoot, you're blocking the hall," he chided Tansy playfully, herding her to the table.

The moment they slid into their chairs, they were served enormous platters of food. Eggs, ham, piles of fried potatoes. A tureen of fruit sat in ice to keep it chilled. The basket of rolls they set before them could keep a family of three going for a week. An elegant glass of orange juice was placed in front of Tansy. A cup of coffee. Her father adored coffee, which was considered a treat in their house, but it only tasted bitter and thin to her. There was also rich brown cup of something she had never seen before.

"They call it hot chocolate," said Finnick. "Trust me, you'll like it."

Tansy took a sip of the hot, sweet, creamy liquid and a shudder ran through her. It was the best thing she had ever tasted in her entire life. Even though the rest of the meal beckoned, she ignored it until she had finished draining her cup. Then she stuffed down every mouthful she could hold, which was a substantial amount, being careful not to overdo it on the richest stuff.

"Why do you always eat like you'll never see food again?" Sean asked.

She retorted with, "Why did Priscilla slap you?"

"How is that any of your business?"

"Why are you answering a question with another question?"

"Why are you so annoying?"

"Guys," Finnick said, interrupting before it got ridiculous. "You can flirt later. Right now we've got bigger fish to fry. In a few minutes, we'll be pulling into the station. You'll be put in the hands of your stylists. You're not going to like what they do to you. But, Tansy, no matter what it is, don't resist."

"Why am I being singled out?" Tansy asked.

"Because I know you," he answered smartly.

She made a face at him in response.

"But seriously, don't resist."

The car went dark. It seemed an eerie coincidence to Tansy. There were still a few lights inside, but outside it was as if night had fallen again. She realized they must be in the tunnel that ran up through the mountains to the Capitol. They must have swung around to the east sometime last night. The mountains formed a natural barrier between the Capitol and the eastern districts. It was almost impossible to enter from the east except through the tunnels. This geographical advantage was a major factor in the districts losing the war that led to her being a tribute today. Since the rebels had to scale the mountains, they were easy targets for the Capitol's air forces. The tunnel seemed to go on an on.

The train finally began to slow and suddenly bright light flooded the compartment. Sean ran to the window. Tansy followed at a slower, more careful pace. She couldn't help it. They were both drawn to see what they'd only seen on television, the Capitol, the ruling city of Panem. The cameras hadn't lied about its grandeur. If anything, they had not quite captured the magnificence of the glistening buildings in rainbow hues that towered into the air, the shiny cars that rolled down the wide paved streets, the oddly dressed people with bizarre hair and painted faces who have never missed a meal. All the colors seemed artificial, the pinks too deep, the greens too bright, the yellows painful to the eyes, like the hard candies Dylan gave her. She wondered if their sense of color had become warped because they lived were surrounded by a manmade environment and seemed to have little exposure to nature and its colors.

The people began to point at them eagerly as they recognized the tribute train rolling into the city. Tansy stepped away from the window, sickened by their excitement, knowing they couldn't wait to watch them die. She returned to her seat at the table. But Sean held his ground, smiling and waving at the gawking crowd. He only stopped when the train pulled into the station, blocking them from their view.

He saw Tansy staring and shrugged. "Who knows?" he says. "One of them could be rich."

This confirmed Tansy's suspicion that at least one of his strategies was to play to the crowd to gather sponsors.

"He's right," Finnick said. "Never forget who could be watching. A good sponsor can be the difference between life or death."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you're not entirely hopeless," Sean told her. "Once the stylists get hold of you, you'll be attractive enough."

If not for Finnick holding Tansy back, Sean Halloran would have had another matching handprint on the other side of his face when he stepped off the train.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Arriving in Style**

* * *

 _R-i-i-i-p!_ Tansy grit her teeth as Cassia, a plump woman with fuchsia hair and blue tattoos on her neck, yanked a strip of fabric from her leg, tearing out the hair beneath it. "Sorry!" she piped in her silly Capitol accent. "We would have gotten it sooner, but your body hair is so fine it's practically invisible!"

Wasn't that a good thing? Who the hell was going to look that close? Why did these people speak in such a high pitch? Why did their jaws barely open when they talked? Why did the ends of their sentences go up as if they were asking a question? Odd vowels, clipped words, and always a hiss on the letter _S_ … no wonder so many of the younger children mimicked them. Tansy would have laughed if she weren't in so much pain.

Cassia made what Tansy supposed was meant to be a sympathetic face. "Good news, though. This is the last one. Ready?" No. But Tansy got a grip on the edges of the table she was seated on and nodded. The final swathe of her leg hair was uprooted in a painful jerk.

She had been in the Remake Center for more than three hours and she still hadn't met her stylist. Apparently she had no interest in seeing her until Cassia and the other members of her prep team had addressed some obvious problems. This had included scrubbing her down with a gritty foam that removed not only dirt, but at least three layers of skin, turning her nails into uniform shapes, conditioning treatments for her hair, and primarily, ridding her body of hair. Tansy had no idea she had so much. Her legs, arms, underarms, and parts of her eyebrows had been stripped of the stuff, leaving her like a plucked bird, ready for roasting. She didn't like it. Her skin felt sore and tingling and intensely vulnerable. But she did as Finnick and Mags told her, and no objection had crossed her lips. She was glad she had left her choker and abalone pearl with them for safekeeping, because she had no idea what her prep team had done with the clothes she arrived in and somehow she doubted she would ever see them again.

"You're doing very well," said some woman named Fabia. She readjusted her powder-blue wig of curls and applied a fresh coat of pale pink lipstick to her small mouth in the shape of a heart. "If there's one thing I can't stand, it's a whiner. It's a shame about those scars on your back, though. There's no way we can fix those in just one session. Grease her down!"

Cassia and Gaius, a man whose entire body had been dyed a shade of pale turquoise, rubbed Tansy down with a lotion that first stung but then soothed her raw skin. Then they pulled her from the table, removed the thin robe she'd been allowed to wear off and on. Tansy stood there, completely naked, as the three circled her, wielding tweezers to remove any last bits of hair. Ordinarily she probably would have been embarrassed, but they were so blasé about the whole thing that she felt no more self conscious than if a trio of oddly colored birds were pecking around her feet.

The three stepped back and admired their work.

"Wonderful! You weren't half bad when you came in, but now our rough diamond is all polished and shiny!" said Fabia, and they all laughed.

Tansy forced her lips into a smile to show how grateful she was. "Thank you," she said sweetly. "I've never had such a thorough makeover before."

She had never had any makeover before, but this seemed to win them over. "Of course you haven't, you poor darling!" said Cassia, clasping her hands together in distress for her.

"But don't worry," said Gaius. "By the time Vita is through with you, you're going to be absolutely stunning!"

"We promise! You know, now that we've cleaned you up, you might be the most attractive tribute we've seen come out of 4 since Finnick Odair! I mean look at this hair, it just doesn't stop!" said Fabia encouragingly, playing with Tansy's full head of bouncy golden curls. "Let's call Vita!"

They darted out of the room. It was hard to hate her prep team. In an odd way, she knew they were sincerely trying to help her.

She looked at the cold white walls and floor and resisted the impulse to retrieve her robe. Vita, her stylist, would surely make her remove it at once. Instead her hands went to her hair. Her fingers stroked the silky, springy curls. It was amazing how much softer they had become.

The door opened and a young woman who must be Vita entered. Tansy was taken aback by how normal she looked. Most of the stylists they interviewed on television were so dyed, stenciled, and surgically altered they were grotesque. But her curled and plaited platinum hair appeared to be its natural shade of blonde. She was wearing a pure white outfit with a tasteful neckline, puffy sleeves, and fluffy knee-length skirt that made her look like a living doll. The only concession to self-alteration seemed to be that her pale skin might have been lightly bleached to match the color of porcelain and the soft, feminine makeup and unnaturally long false eyelashes that brought out the blue in her eyes. All of it served to make her look even more like a flawlessly beautiful doll. And, despite her disgust with the Capitol and their hideous fashions, Tansy couldn't help thinking how strangely attractive it looked on her. It almost made her feel protective of her petite stylist, like the woman should be wrapped up, placed inside a lovely little box to protect her delicate frame, and put someplace safe and high, away from anything that might try to harm her.

"Hello, Tansy. I'm Vita, your stylist," she said in a soft voice that managed to make the Capitol's affectations sound endearing.

"Hello," Tansy ventured cautiously.

"Just give me a moment, all right?" Vita asked. She walked around Tansy's naked body, not touching her, but taking in every inch of it with her eyes. Tansy resisted the impulse to cross her arms over her chest, but she could feel her cheeks flushing. Seeing her blush seemed to amuse Vita.

"My, aren't you adorable? You're Chicory's daughter, right? I can see the resemblance," she remarked with an affectionate smile. "And I bet you're just as clever, too."

"You knew my mother?" Tansy asked, surprised.

"Of course!" said Vita. "I started out in 11, so your mother was one of my first tributes. I was sorry to hear about what happened to her." She gave Tansy a very sympathetic look. She was truly sorry for her loss.

Tansy looked down at her feet. It was still hard to talk about her mother's death. She had expected someone overly flamboyant, someone older trying desperately to look young, someone who viewed her as a piece of meat to be prepared for a platter. Vita met none of these expectations. But then what she had said about having been her mother's stylist sunk in, and Tansy realized pretty and petite Vita had to be much older than she looked. That was kind of scary, considering she should probably at least be in her thirties, yet she still looked like a teenager.

"How long have you been with 4?" Tansy asked eventually. "I don't think I've seen you before." Most of the stylists were familiar, constants in the ever-changing pool of tributes. Some had been around her whole life.

"Oh, no I'm sure you wouldn't remember if you had," Vita said with a small smile, taking the hint that her mother was a sensitive topic. "I decided to retire from the Games when you would have been around… two, I suppose? But when I heard the daughter of one of my favorites was competing this year, I just had to come back. Why don't you put your robe on, and we'll have a proper chat."

Tansy pulled on her robe and followed her through a door into a sitting room. Two blue couches faced off over a low table. Three walls were blank, the fourth wall was entirely glass, providing a window to the city. Tansy felt like a little like fish in a bowl. She could see by the light that it must be around noon, although the sunny sky had turned overcast. Vita invited her to sit on one of the couches and took her place across from her. Vita pressed a button on the side of the table. The top split and from below rose a second tabletop that held their lunch. Chicken and chunks of oranges cooked in a creamy sauce laid on a bed of pearly white grain, tiny green peas and onions, rolls shaped like flowers, and for dessert, a pudding the color of honey.

Tansy tried to imagine assembling this meal herself back home. Chickens were too expensive, and getting a wild turkey would mean poaching outside the fence. A nice, mild white fish might make a decent substitute. Fresh milk and cream were less expensive than chicken but still difficult to come by. Most of the cows were raised much further inland. A few kids from school were from families that could afford to keep a goat. She could trade some wild fruit for that. Goat's milk would have to substitute for cream. They could grow peas in the window box or ask Mags if they could make a small plot in her garden. Wild onions were easy to find. The grain looked like the rice she had in the paella Mags treated her to before, only the rice in that dish had looked yellow. Either way, rice was an expensive grain. She couldn't think of anything that would make a decent substitute. Fancy rolls would cost a pretty penny, too. The baker might be willing to give them a discount if they threw some fresh figs into the bargain. As for the pudding, aside from the obvious milk, sugar, and honey, she couldn't even guess what was in it or how it had been made. Mags would probably be happy to pay for everything and treat her, but Tansy didn't like to ask. Remaining self-sufficient was important to her. Days of gathering and fishing for this one meal and even then it would be a poor substitution for the Capitol version.

What must it be like, she wondered, to live in a world where food appeared at the press of a button? How would she spend the hours she now committed to combing the ocean and green areas of the district for sustenance if it were so easy to come by? What did they do all day, these people in the Capitol, besides decorate their bodies and wait around for a new shipment of tributes to roll and die for their entertainment? No wonder her prep team's chatter had mostly been about pointless things like strange pets, parties, fashion, and drooling over Finnick.

Tansy looked up and found Vita's eyes trained on hers.

"You really do look just like her, you know," she said seriously. "Chicory was gorgeous, so I'm not surprised her daughter turned out to be such an exotic beauty."

"Exotic?" Tansy asked.

"It's a complement," said Vita. "So, Tansy, about your costume for the opening ceremonies. My partner, Felix, is the stylist for your fellow tribute, Sean. And our current thought is to dress you in complementary costumes. We wouldn't want you too clash too much, or you'd both just end up looking ridiculous," she explained. "As you know, it's customary to reflect the flavor of the district."

For the opening ceremonies, tributes were supposed to wear something that suggested their district's principal industry. District 11, agriculture. District 2, masonry. District 3, technology. This meant that coming from District 4, Sean and Tansy would be in something to do with fishing. Since the baggy rubber pants and yellow rain slickers worn by her farther and the other fishermen in 4 were not particularly becoming, their tributes usually ended up in skimpy outfits and nets or a captain's hat. One year, their tributes were dressed as fish in silver body paint and tight body suits patterned like fish scales. Another, their tributes were stark naked and covered in a pearly white paint to represent pearls. It was almost always dreadful yet still somehow managed to win some favor with the crowd. Probably because the costumes for Districts 11 and 12 were always so terrible, they made everyone else's look better. Tansy prepared herself for the worst.

"So, I'll be dressed as a fisherman?" she asked, hoping it wouldn't be indecent.

"Not exactly. You see, Felix and I think that fishermen thing's very overdone. No one will remember you in that. And we both see it as our job to make the District 4 tributes unforgettable," said Vita.

 _I'll be naked for sure,_ Tansy thought. She had never seen a recap of her mother's game, but with that sly grin on Vita's face, the doll-like woman looked capable of anything.

"So rather than focus on the fishing itself, we're going to focus on the ocean," said Vita.

 _Yep, naked and covered in nets or seaweed,_ Tansy thought.

"And what do you think of when you think of the ocean? Neptune," said Vita. "Neptune was the ancient god of the sea, so that's what Sean's costume will be. But you know who else came from the sea, Tansy? Venus. She's the goddess of love and charm, but Venus was born from sea foam. She's often depicted standing on seashell in the middle of the ocean."

Tansy thought back to a mural she had seen painted on one of the walls in the room where she received her visitors in the Justice Building. It had been the image of a beautiful naked woman with golden hair and fair skin standing on giant clamshell on top of blue waves. "And that's who my costume is going to be based on?" she asked warily.

Vita saw her expression and grinned.

A few hours later, Tansy was dressed in what would probably be the most sensational and tastefully sensual costume in the opening ceremonies. Contrary to Tansy's earlier fears, she was not naked. Instead, she was in a beautiful flowing dress fashioned from a glistening blue-green fabric that perfectly imitated the colors and texture of the undulating surface of the ocean. The fabric was gathered under the bodice and arranged to fall in a way that highlighted her slender curves and showed off her long legs without being obscene. Behind it flowed a graceful train that fluttered in the breeze. A shimmering net of silver was draped casually around her neck and over her back to obscure the view of the scars on her back, which could not be completely covered up even with the special makeup they had in the Capitol. Her springy curls had been relaxed into flowing golden waves decorated with pearls and tiny shells. And a gleaming crown of seashells and starfish, dusted with a metallic powder to coordinate with the net, and matching cuff bracelets. Her bare skin had been lightly brushed with a special powder that had a pearly sheen and the make up on her face was soft and feminine. A style that was charmingly innocent with a sensual undertone.

"Now, that's a goddess," Vita said confidently, brimming with pride. "Everyone's going to want to either kiss you, kill you, or be you."

Well, Tansy thought two out of three of those didn't sound so bad.

"Wow!"

Tansy and Vita turned to see that Sean and Felix had showed up to meet them. It was Sean who had spoken. He was stopped in his tracks, mouth hanging open. His costume was closer to what Tansy had been afraid she would end up with. Apparently, Felix's idea of Neptune was a boy wearing a silver net over a shiny blue speedo. His costume had been made with the same fabrics as hers, and he was dusted in the same pearlescent body powder. On his head was a more masculine version of her crown of shells and starfish, matching bracers on his arms. He was even wearing the same shade of lavender-blue lipstick as her. Sean actually had Tansy's sympathy on this one.

"Chin up, son. We don't want to get drool on the costume," Felix chided him lightly as he sauntered over to greet them. "Oh, don't you look fabulous! Marvelous work Vita! Simply marvelous!"

Tansy watched the two stylists exchange a couple of air kisses. Felix was a plump man with silver hair and a mustache sculpted in an elaborate, eccentric design. His ears were pierced and he wore a lipstick that complemented his suit of varying shades of purple.

"Oh, girls are so much fun to design for aren't they?" he prattled on. "Mine kept complaining the whole way through."

"Please," said Vita with a small scoff, "we both know you would have had her in a shell bra."

"Guilty!" Felix sang with a giggle. Tansy realized she had dodged a major bullet there. "But you know, there's nothing like a good bra accentuate a girl's best assets," he said with a wink.

"There's nothing to accentuate," Sean said with a pointed glance at her flat chest.

Tansy looked at Vita. "Is there a way to make him fall off the chariot and have it look like an accident?"

Vita smirked. Sean frowned and Felix giggled. Then they were whisked down to the bottom level of the Remake Center, which was essentially a gigantic stable. The opening ceremonies were about to start. Pairs of tributes were being loaded into chariots pulled by teams of four horses. Theirs were snow-white with long manes and tails that had been died to fade from sea foam to blue, so they would look like waves in the wind. The animals were so well trained, no one even needed to guide their reins. Vita and Felix directed Sean and Tansy into the chariot and carefully arranged their body positions, the drape of their costumes, before stepping back to observe their work, making sure everything was perfect.

"Where are Mags and Finnick?" Tansy asked, wondering where they were. She was starting to feel nervous.

"Haven't seen them," Sean said with a shrug, which earned him a scolding from Felix as the plump stylist fixed his pose again.

"Don't worry about them," said Vita. "They'll be watching you from the stands. If it helps, try imagining the entire audience is filled with those two."

Tansy pictured that for a moment. "I don't think the world is ready for more than one Finnick Odair."

"Mm, I hear that!" said Felix. "That boy is too delicious for his own good!"

Vita stepped forward and gently tucked a hand under Tansy's chin. "Remember, heads high. Smiles. They're going to love you!" She smiled and the two stylists hopped off the chariot.

The opening music began. It was easy to hear, blasted around the Capitol. Massive doors slid open revealing the crowd-lined streets. The ride lasted about twenty minutes and ended up at the City Circle, where they would welcome them, play the anthem, and escort them into the Training Center, which would be their home/prison until the Games began.

The tributes from District 1 rode out in a chariot pulled by pure-white horses. They looked so beautiful, spray-painted gold, in a tasteful gown and tux glittering with jewels. District 1 made luxury items for the Capitol. You could hear the roar of the crowd. They were always favorites.

District 2 got into position to follow them. In no time at all, Tansy and Sean were approaching the door and she could see the light was turning gray as the evening came. The tributes from District 3 were just rolling out, when Tansy considered risking a glance over her shoulder to see if she could catch a glimpse of 11, but decided against it. She wasn't sure she could take it if she looked back and saw those familiar faces staring back at her. Somewhere off to the side they heard Felix shout again. "Remember, heads high. Smiles. They're going to love you!" And then they entered the city.

The crowd's initial gasp of astonishment at their appearance quickly changed to cheers and shouts of "District 4!" Every head was turned their way, pulling the focus from the three chariots ahead of them. At first, Tansy was confused by the gasps she heard, but then she caught sight of them on a large television screen and was floored by how breathtaking they looked. In the deepening twilight, she and Sean were glowing as if they really were divine beings. The pearlescent powder was reflecting the light from the streetlamps and spotlights, making it appear as though their bodies were radiating a soft, white light like the moon. Because Vita had kept her makeup minimal, she looked more attractive and a little otherworldly but utterly recognizable.

 _Remember, heads high. Smiles. They're going to love you!_ She heard Vita and Felix's voices in her head. Tansy lifted her chin a bit higher, put on her most winning smile, and waved with a hand as if she were greeting old friends and loved ones, pretending the audience was filled with only Mags, Finnick, Annie, her father, Mari, and even Dylan. She was very glad learning to stay steady in rocking boats had prepared her well enough for balancing on a moving chariot. While a few of the other tributes were clutching the sides of theirs to keep from falling, she was perfectly steady, solid as a rock. As Tansy gained confidence, she actually blew a few kisses to the crowd. The people of the Capitol were going nuts, showering her and Sean with flowers, shouting their names, their first names, which they had bothered to find on the program.

The pounding music, the cheers, the admiration worked their way into her blood, and she couldn't suppress her excitement. Vita had given her a real advantage. No one would forget her. Not her look, not her name. Tansy. The girl dressed as a goddess.

For the first time, she felt a flicker of hope rising up in her. Surely, there must be one sponsor willing to take her on! And with a little extra help, some food, the right weapon, why should she count herself out of the Games?

Someone threw Tansy a pink rose. She caught it, gave it a delicate sniff, and blew a kiss back in the general direction of the giver. A hundred hands reached up to catch her kiss, as if it were a real and tangible thing.

"Tansy! Tansy!" She could hear her name being called from all sides. Everyone wanted her kisses.

The twelve chariots filled the loop of the City Circle. On the buildings that surrounded the Circle, every window was packed with the most prestigious citizens of the Capitol. Their horses pulled their chariot right up to President Snow's mansion, and they came to a halt. The music ended with a flourish.

The president, a small, thin man with paper-white hair, gave the official welcome from a balcony above them. It was traditional to cut away to the faces of the tributes during the speech. But Tansy could see on the screen that she and Sean were getting way more than their share of airtime. The darker it became, the more difficult it was to take your eyes off their glow. When the national anthem played, they did make an effort to do a quick cut around to each pair of tributes, but the camera returned and held onto the District 4 chariot as it paraded around the circle one final time and disappeared into the Training Center.

The doors had only just shut behind them when they were engulfed by the prep teams, who were nearly unintelligible as they babbled out praise. As she glanced around, Tansy noticed a lot of the other tributes were shooting them dirty looks, which confirmed what she'd suspected, they had literally outshone them all. Tansy turned to smile at Sean, only to find that he was also shooting her an extremely unfriendly look.

Before she could ask what his problem was, Vita and Felix were there, helping them down from the chariot.

"Oh, you were brilliant!" Vita cheered excitedly, clasping Tansy's hands in her own. "You certainly have your mother's charisma!"

The next thing Tansy knew, she was being whisked out of Vita's grasp.

"That's our girl!" Finnick said, grinning, holding her up as he spun her around. He and Mags had watched the whole thing from start to finish. The sponsors would come pouring in!

Tansy blushed, a little embarrassed. Even without looking she could feel the number of people glaring daggers at her multiplying by the second. "Uh, thanks… but could you stop?" she asked. "Apparently you've got a lot of fans here, because I'm pretty sure the bloodlust of all the girls and one guy just increased by 100%." The last thing she need was everyone trying to claw her eyes out.

Finnick smiled wryly and set her down after a quick glance around. "Point taken."

Mags came hobbling over with big smile on her face. "Look beautiful," she told Tansy, giving her a hug.

"You didn't do too bad either," Finnick told Sean, clapping him on the shoulder. The kid was still pouting over how the larger portion of the audience had been cheering for Tansy. Vita had done an excellent job bring out her charm.

The Training Center had a tower designed exclusively for the tributes and their teams. This would be their home until the actual Games began. Each district had an entire floor. You simply stepped onto an elevator and pressed the number of your district. Easy enough to remember.

Tansy had ridden the elevator in the Justice Building back in District 4, yesterday to say her final goodbyes to her friends and family. But that thing had been dimly lit and moved like a snail. The walls of this elevator were made of crystal so that you could watch the people on the ground floor shrink to ants as you shot up into the air. It was short but exhilarating, and she was tempted to ask the others if they could ride it again, but somehow that seemed childish. And she was certain Priscilla Lush would say "no".

Apparently, Priscilla Lush's duties did not conclude at the station. She, Mags, and Finnick would be overseeing them right into the arena. In a way, that was a plus because at least she could be counted upon to corral them around to places on time, whereas Finnick and Mags sometimes had trouble getting up early. Like everyone else in their group, Priscilla Lush seemed to be flying high. She was thrilled with Vita and Felix's work on the costumes and the crowd's reaction. She was complimentary about not just their costumes but how they conducted themselves. And, to hear her tell it, Priscilla knew everyone who was anyone in the Capitol and had been talking them up all day, trying to win them sponsors.

"I've been very mysterious, though," she says, her eyes squint half shut. "Because, of course, Mags and Finnick haven't told me your strategies yet. But I've done my best with what I had to work with. How Tansy sacrificed herself for her sister. How you both come from a winning district. Everyone has their reservations, naturally. Tansy isn't a Career, after all. But I said, and this was very clever of me, I said, 'If you want a pearl you have be willing to dive deep,' because our Tansy is a pearl diver! Get it?" Priscilla beamed at them so brilliantly that they had no choice but to respond enthusiastically to her cleverness even though they didn't quite understand her humor.

"All I've been hearing is 'Tansy this' and 'Tansy that'," Sean muttered moodily. "I hope you were talking me up, too."

"Yes, don't worry," Priscilla said dismissively, "you were mentioned."

Sean's frown deepened into a scowl. That didn't inspire much confidence.

"Unfortunately," Priscilla continued, "I can't seal the sponsor deals for you. That's where Finnick and Mags come in."

Tansy's quarters were pretty much the same size as her entire house back home. They were plush, like the train car, but also had so many automatic gadgets the she was sure she wouldn't have time to press all the buttons. The shower alone had a panel with more than a hundred options you could choose regulating water temperature, pressure, soaps, shampoos, scents, oils, and massaging sponges. When you stepped out on a mat, heaters came on that blow-dried your body. Instead of struggling with the knots in her wet hair, she merely placed her hand on a box that sent a current through her scalp, untangling, parting, and drying her hair almost instantly. It floated down around her hair in glossy, springy curls again.

She programed the closet for an outfit to her taste. The windows zoomed in and out on parts of the city at her command. She only needed to whisper a type of food from a gigantic menu into a mouthpiece and it appeared, hot and steamy, before you in less than a minute. It was the closest thing to magic Tansy had ever seen. She walked around the room eating something with a rich yet delicate flavor called foie gras and orange brie until there was a knock on the door. Priscilla was calling her to dinner.

Good. Tansy was starving.

Mags, Vita and Felix were standing out on a balcony that overlooked the Capitol when they entered the dining room. Tansy was glad to see the stylists, particularly after she found out Finnick wouldn't be joining them, because Sean was still sulking at his place at the table and glaring daggers at her. When she had asked, "Where's Finnick?" Mags shook her head and simply said, "Got called away." Something struck her about that statement as odd. Called away? By who? Was it someone who wanted to be a sponsor? Going by the tired, sad look in Mags' eyes, that wasn't it. Tansy wondered if she should be worried. It was clear something was going on, but what?

A silent young man dressed in a white tunic offered everyone stemmed glasses of wine. Tansy was curious about the taste since she had never had any before, but the smell brought back memories of her mother and her drinking problem, so she politely declined.

Vita and Felix seemed to have a civilizing effect on Sean, because they paid him just enough attention ease his slighted feelings and make him relatively pleasant again. Vita winked at her from across the table to let Tansy know she was still her favorite. Tansy smiled back. Priscilla had nothing but praise for the stylists' opening act. While they made small talk, Tansy noticed Mags was even quieter than usual. She wanted to ask what was wrong, but when Mags caught her staring, she just smiled and pretended to be fine. Obviously, whatever it was, she didn't want to talk about it there. Tansy decided to concentrate on the meal to keep herself from thinking about it and wondering where Finnick was. Carrot soup, bitter greens with tomatoes the size of peas, rare roast beef sliced as thin as paper, noodles in a green sauce, cheese that melted on your tongue served with sweet purple plums. The servers, all young people dressed in white tunics like the one who gave them wine, moved wordlessly to and from the table, keeping the platters and glasses full.

Finnick showed up about halfway through the meal. His hair was a bit ruffled and Tansy could smell a strange perfume when he sat down in the empty chair next to hers. It was unsettling and it made Tansy's stomach turn. The only other person who seemed to notice the change in him was Mags, who discretely reached around under the corner of the table to give his hand a quick squeeze. Finnick chatted and laughed with the others, but something was off. Tansy thought it seemed a little forced.

When Finnick caught her staring, she quickly looked away and tried to focus more on the talk, which had turned to their interview costumes again, when a girl set a gorgeous tureen of some kind of dark cherry sauce on the table and deftly lit it. It blazed up and then the flames flickered around the edges awhile until it finally went out. It was quite the spectacle. "What makes it burn? Is it alcohol?" Tansy asked, looking up at the girl.

The girl silently nodded her head and one of the boys in white served them bowls of something sweet and cold the others called ice cream. The flambéed cherry sauce was poured on top. Vita assured Tansy the alcohol had been burned off by the fire. It was delicious.

They finished the cherries and ice cream and moved into a sitting room to watch the replay of the opening ceremonies that was being broadcasted. A few of the other couples made a nice impression, but none of them could hold a candle to Tansy and Sean. Even their own party let out an "Ah!" as they showed them coming out of the Remake Center.

"Just the perfect touch of coyness," said Priscilla, eying their posture. "Very nice."

Coyness? Tansy blinked and remembered she was supposed to be the goddess of love, so she supposed that would have made sense. But it felt strange to think of herself that way.

Finnick smiled as he watched. Sean looked very strong and heroic, but Tansy's natural charisma had kept him from overshadowing her. Vita had done an excellent job of drawing attention to her best traits without taking it too far. She was only fourteen. If they over sexualized her now, it could make her life as a victor more difficult in the future, if she had one. Finnick really didn't want to think about the alternative.

"Goodness, what _is_ that?" Priscilla asked with a frown when District 11 rolled up.

Pepper was wearing a sleeveless dress that stopped above her knees. It was hot pink and had yellow beads the size of quail eggs sewn on at intervals. They guessed it was supposed to remind you of a strawberry. Her black hair had been twisted into pigtails that had life-sized corn ears dangling from the ends. A headdress of green cloth wrapped around basket of fruit was balanced precariously on her head. Root was wearing the male version with a strawberry shirt, green pants, and a belt of fruit. Their faces were covered in loud, garish makeup. It was horrendous. What were their stylists thinking? Tansy couldn't help but grimace with sympathy for her old friends.

"Well, those two are definitely dead," said Sean. "Hey!" he protested when Tansy threw a pillow at his head before anyone could stop her.

"All right, that's enough," Finnick said before it could escalate. "Tomorrow morning is the first training session. Meet me and Mags for breakfast and we'll tell you how we want you to play it."

Mags patted Tansy on the hand. "Get some sleep," she said kindly.

Tansy and Sean walked together down the corridor to their rooms. When she got to her door, he leaned against the frame, not blocking her entrance exactly but insisting she paid attention to him. "So, what was the deal with the pillow? Why do you keep overreacting every time they show the tributes from 11?"

Tansy didn't want to talk about it. But maybe if she explained he would stop acting like a such a jerk. How could it hurt, really? Even if he repeated the story, it couldn't do her much harm. Everyone already knew she was originally from 11. "They're old friends," she said, staring straight at her door.

He frowned. "There are no friends in the arena."

Tansy frowned and clenched her hands. "I know that. But I can't just flip a switch and forget everything we've been through together."

"There's no way you can win like that. You're underestimating the Games."

Tansy whipped around. " _You're_ the one who's underestimating them!" she told him. "There are no winners. Just survivors. If you treat it like a game, you're gonna lose!"

She stomped into her room and shut the door behind her before he could say another word. She kicked off her shoes, ripped off her clothes and sat huddled in the shower, letting her tears mingle with the water. She cried over how helpless she was.

Eventually, when she realized she had run out of tears, Tansy made herself stand and finish her shower. When she was dry, she pulled on a simple nightgown and climbed under the covers. She thought of her mother and wondered if that was how she was going to end up. She shivered and pulled the covers up over her head as if that would protect her from all her fears. She used to do this when she was little and thought the echoes in the victor's mansion at night were a monster hiding in the dark. Trouble was, the monsters she had in her head were far more frightening. And you couldn't stay hidden from them.

Tansy's slumber was filled with disturbing dreams. The faces of Pepper and Root intertwined with gory images from earlier Hunger Games, with her mother screaming like a mad woman and thrashing around violently, with Annie and her father lying on the ground in a pool of blood, with her eight-year-old self terrified and holding a bloody knife. She bolted upright screaming for help. Screaming for the others to run.

It was still dark outside aside from the lights of the other buildings. Dawn hadn't quite broken yet. The Capitol had a misty, haunted air. Her head ached and she must have bitten into the side of her cheek in the night. Her tongue probed the ragged flesh and she tasted blood.

Slowly, Tansy dragged herself out of bed, grabbed a robe, and spoke an order for hot chocolate into the mouthpiece. Then she shuffled out of her room, cradling the warm mug in her hands. She couldn't stay in that room. It felt like the walls were closing in on her. When she reached the sitting room, Finnick was already up and lounging in a window seat, staring off into the distance. He looked tired. But she knew from experience that it wasn't the kind of weariness that could be cured by sleep.

"Nightmare?" She asked.

Finnick looked up at her in alarm but quickly masked his anxiety. "Just thinking over some strategies."

"It's all right. You don't have to make excuses," She said softly, sitting across from him on the other end of the window seat. "I know that look. My mother used to have them, too."

Finnick's expression softened and he reached out to move a stray curl out of her face. He paused with his hand still in her hair. "And now you're having them, too?"

Tansy stared down into her cup of hot chocolate. The rich aroma was soothing, but she could still feel a slight tremor in her hands. "Yes." She paused. "I'm scared of what I might become."

Finnick took the cup from her and pulled her into a hug with his free hand. His arms were strong and warm. He didn't smell like that strange perfume anymore. Tansy felt calm as she rested her head against his shoulder. She felt safe. "Why did you volunteer?"

His question surprised her. But her answer surprised him more.

"You know why," she said. "It's because I'm selfish."

Finnick looked at her, confused. "Selfish?"

Tansy wouldn't look at him. "The Games destroyed my mother," she explained quietly. "I wasn't about to sit back and watch that happen to Annie. She's too kind. So I volunteered to protect her, because I couldn't stand the thought of losing her, too. But now Annie has to watch it happen to me, knowing I took her place. Live or die, no matter what I do, I'm going to end up hurting her."

They sat in silence for a moment. "I don't think you're selfish," he said. "You said Annie was too kind for the Games, and I think you're right. But you're kind, too. That's why you're suffering so much right now." He leaned away from Tansy and held her face in his hands. "But you're also strong. Because you understand what the Games do to people better than anyone should have to, and you still volunteered. Annie isn't weak, and neither are you. So stop worrying about her so much and focus on winning so you can see each other again."

Tansy felt like someone was squeezing her heart again, but it was a little different this time. It wasn't as painful. She felt like she was in danger of crying again, so she hugged Finnick so he couldn't see her face. "Thank you…" she said, pausing for a moment to collect herself. "But don't ever come between me and my hot chocolate again," she finished with a straight face as she pulled away.

Finnick laughed and returned her mug, glad she was acting like her normal self again. Watching Tansy sip carefully at the warm liquid in the pale light of dawn, savoring each mouthful with a small smile on her face, he understood why Annie loved her so much.

"Come on," he said, getting up. "I think I smell breakfast."

And he was right. They headed into the dining room, hoping there would be food, and they were not disappointed. While the table was empty, a long board off to the side had been laid with at least twenty dishes. A young man in a white tunic stood at attention by the spread. When Tansy asked if they could serve themselves, he nodded in assent. She wondered why all the attendants were always so silent. She tried asking Finnick quietly while they loaded their plates with food, but he just said he would tell her later. Finnick didn't want to ruin her appetite. She was going to need her strength for training. Tansy raised an eyebrow but didn't push it. They loaded up their plates with eggs, sausages, batter cakes covered in thick strawberry preserves, slices of an orange melon. As he ate and she gorged herself, they watched the sun rise over the Capitol. Tansy had a second plate of hot grain smothered in beef stew. Finally, she filled a plate with rolls and sat at the table, breaking off bits and using them to wipe her plate clean, dipping some into hot chocolate.

Tansy's mind wandered to her father and Annie. They must be up. Annie cooking their breakfast of fish and bread. Their father scraping barnacles off the boat before work. What did they say last night about her glowing debut at the Games? Did it give them hope, or simply add to their terror when they saw the reality of twenty-four tributes circled together, knowing only one could live? Just two mornings ago she was home and avoiding all physical contact with Finnick. Now she was in the Capitol hugging him. Only two mornings? Could that be right? Yes, it was. Life was weird.

Mags and Sean came in, bid them good morning, filled their plates. Sean was wearing blue and black athletic gear, similar to the clothes they issued to Careers for local training back in 4. Tansy realized she should probably get dressed, too. She was just about to leave to do just that, when Sean, revived by his coffee, suddenly opened his eyes wide and laughed so hard it came back out through his nose.

"Ha-ha-ha! Have you seen your hair?" he howled, slapping the table.

Tansy reached up and felt it. Her curls were a lopsided, tangled mess. "Have you seen your face?"

"Huh?" Sean said dumbly. He was so busy laughing at her that he hadn't even noticed the coffee dribbling from his nose down the front of his face.

"Ugh," Priscilla groaned when she came in and saw what was going on. "It is far too early for this. Use a napkin, for heaven's sake! Thank goodness the sponsors can't see this. It's not funny!" she scolded Finnick and Mags when she noticed the amused expressions on their faces. "And you, young lady," she said, pointing at Tansy. "Go to your room at once, and don't come out until you look presentable. Vita should have left some training clothes for you in your room. Don't let me catch you out here like that again. A young lady shouldn't wear her nightclothes around men. It's too suggestive."

That surprised Tansy. Priscilla was more conservative than she appeared. "Since when is dressing like a cotton sack of potatoes suggestive?" Tansy asked dubiously.

"Don't worry," Finnick told her, "you're a very nice sack of potatoes."

Tansy's hand shot out and grabbed a roll. For a minute, Finnick thought she might actually throw it at him, but instead she bit into it ripped a piece off with her teeth. "I'd throw this at you if I had less respect for food," she threatened with narrow eyes before heading off to her room to get dressed, still holding the roll.

"And you, you're just as bad," Priscilla huffed, turning on Finnick next. "Don't encourage her. She's just a kid, she might take you seriously."

"Oh, she's too smart for that," he answered confidently.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Training**

* * *

When she returned to her room, Tansy found an outfit had been left for her at the front of the closet. Tight pants, a formfitting long-sleeved top, and leather shoes. It was athletic wear similar to what had been given to Sean, but in different colors. Hers were black and sea-foam. She put her hair in two braids, tucked and pined the ends in so they wouldn't get caught on anything or slap her in the face. This was the first time since the morning of the reaping that she resembled herself. No fancy hair and clothes, no makeup and glowing body powder. Just her.

She was nervous about the training. There would be three days in which all the tributes practiced together. On the last afternoon, they would each get a chance to perform in private before the Gamemakers. The thought of meeting the other tributes, particularly Pepper and Root, face-to-face made her queasy. She turned away from the mirror and headed back to the dinning room.

"All right, let's get down to business," Finnick said when she returned. "Training. First off, if you like, we can coach you separately. Decide now."

"Why would you coach us separately?" Tansy asked.

"In case you have a secret skill you might not want the other to know about," he replied.

Tansy looked at Sean. Did she have any secret skills? She didn't think so, but then again, they didn't know anything about each other aside from the fact that one of them was a Career and the other wasn't.

"I want to be trained alone," said Sean, turning to Tansy. "I decided to take your advice. I'm done playing around."

He was dead serious. It was obvious he was thinking about the best way to kill her now. Tansy made a mental note that maybe she should keep her mouth shut next time.

"Well, this always happens at some point," Finnick said. He was concerned for Tansy, but it was probably better this way in the long run. "In that case, we can discuss your individual skills and strategies later. For now, the plan is the same for both of you. You go to group training. Spend the time trying to learn something you don't know. Throw some knives. Learn some snares. Light a fire without matches. Save showing what you're best at until your private sessions. Are we clear?"

Tansy and Sean nodded.

"All right. Tansy, you go over your skills with Mags. Sean, you'll be with me. Then the two of you will meet Pricilla at the elevator in ten minutes. Training officially starts at ten, but it's better to be early."

Sean smirked at Tansy as if he had won some kind of victory over her. Tansy rolled her eyes. If he was underestimating Mags' value as a mentor because she was old, then the joke was on him. Who did he think taught Finnick everything he knew?

Tansy and Mags retreated to her room for privacy while they made a list of Tansy's skills and the areas she could use improvement in. The good news was, Tansy should have no trouble where food was concerned. She already had a wide variety of knowledge and experience with distinguishing between edible, medicinal, and poisonous plants in two different types of environments. And she was stealthy enough to be able to sneak up on small birds like doves and quails and catch them with her bare hands before they had a chance to fly away. She could also stun squirrels and rabbits with a slingshot and catch them while they couldn't move. And, of course, she could fish. She had already learned from Mags how to make fishhooks from virtually anything as well as every kind of knot known to man and how to weave mats and baskets so tight they could hold water. If there was nothing else, she even knew how to eat certain insects. Her life in Districts 11 and 4 had prepared her well for those areas of survival.

She also knew how to make temporary shelters. It had been early winter when she hid in that thicket to avoid the community house and she had run off without a chance to get much more than the clothes on her back, so she had learned how to insulate herself using dry leaves, moss, and other materials found in the wild fast. She had also made herself a temporary shelter that was camouflaged to blend in with its surroundings. Fire was another thing she would have no trouble with. Since matches cost money they needed for food and other essential goods, most people in 11 used simple tools that could easily be made using wood and thin shavings to get it going.

As for fighting, Tansy could use a trident, but she and Mags agreed she was better with a spear. Her aim was perfect with the spear when used for fishing, and she could hurl one a fair distance to catch fleeing prey. She usually carried a knife while diving to open shells and in the event she might need to fend off predators. But she had no experience using either in a fight against a human opponent. However, Tansy did have experience cutting and cleaning fish and animals to prepare them for cooking, and this could theoretically translate over to humans if she remembered to target vital areas like the neck, veins, and soft organs. Same with the spear.

But if she was pitted against Sean or one of the other Careers in close combat, there was no question that they would have the advantage. Tansy was tall for her age, and she was healthy and athletic from all the swimming and diving she did, but Careers were trained to be deadly. Mags suggested she avoid the initial bloodbath at the cornucopia and make finding cover her first priority.

They decided she should focus on learning some hand-to-had combat techniques and methods to disarm opponents, since there was no guarantee she would be able to get her hands on a weapon right away. Practicing knife throwing, wielding a bow and arrows, and any other weapon she wasn't familiar with would be a good idea too. She should also learn how to find and treat water. There wasn't going to be a manmade tap on the side of a house that she could sneak out of the woods and use like she did while hiding in the thicket. Camouflage was always useful. And checking out each station that dealt with flora and fauna, even if she didn't use them, might give her a clue about what kind of environment they could be using for the arena.

The actual training rooms were below ground level of their building. With the elevators, the ride was less than a minute. The doors opened into an enormous gymnasium filled with various weapons and obstacle courses. Although it's not yet ten, Tansy and Sean were almost the last to arrive. They were still missing the boy and girl from 12. The other tributes were already gathered in a tense circle. They each had a cloth square with their district number on it pinned to their shirts. While someone pinned the number _4_ on her back, Tansy did a quick assessment. Her attention was naturally focused most on Pepper and Root. They were dressed in matching green tunics, brown pants, and soft leather shoes. They looked so much more like themselves, like the old friends she remembered, that she was tempted to give them a smile. But then she remembered why they were there. Her stomach dropped when their eyes met. It was painfully awkward, and she didn't know what to do.

Fortunately, the arrival of the tributes from 12 drew everyone's attention. As soon as they had their numbers and everyone had joined the circle, the head trainer, a tall, athletic woman named Atala stepped up and began to explain the training schedule. Experts in each skill would remain at their stations. The tributes would be free to travel from area to area as they chose, per their mentor's instructions. Some of the stations taught survival skills, others fighting techniques. They were forbidden to engage in any combative exercise with another tribute. There were assistants on hand if they wanted to practice with a partner.

When Atala began to read down the list of the skill stations, Tansy's eyes couldn't help flitting around to the other tributes again. It was the first time they had been assembled, on level ground, in simple clothes. Her heart sank. Almost all of the boys and a fair amount of the girls were bigger than she was. Tansy was tall for a fourteen-year-old, and she had been hoping that would be an advantage, even though most of the tributes had never been fed properly. Like poor Pepper and Root. You could see it in their bones, their skin, the hollow look in their eyes. Being transferred to 4 had given her an advantage in that area. Tansy stood straight, and while she was thin, she was fairly strong. The fish, occasional meat, and plants from the market and the wild combined with the exertion it took to get them and her work as a diver had given her a healthier body than most of those she saw around her. But it hurt to see that Pepper and Root were still so small and thin, even if they had become her opponents. It was an obvious sign of how hard their lives had been.

The exceptions were, of course, the kids from the wealthier districts, the volunteers like Sean, the ones who had been fed and trained throughout their lives for this moment. The tributes from 1, 2, and 4 traditionally had this look about them. It was technically against the rules to train tributes before they reached the Capitol but it happened every year. And like as not, the winner would be one of them.

The slight advantage Tansy held coming into the Training Center, her glowing entrance as a goddess the previous night, seemed to vanish in the presence of her competition. The other tributes were jealous of her, yes, but not because she was amazing, because her stylist was. Now she saw nothing but contempt in the glances of the Career Tributes. Each must have had fifty to a hundred pounds on her. They projected arrogance and brutality. Even Sean. When Atala released them, they headed straight for the deadliest-looking weapons in the gym and handled them with ease.

She was thinking it was lucky she was a fast runner, when she felt someone's eyes on her. Pepper and Root were still standing there, staring at her. They looked like they were waiting for her to say something. Tansy still didn't know how she should treat them, but she felt she should at least speak to them.

"Hey… How's everyone in 11 doing?" she asked a bit awkwardly, signing with her hands so Root wouldn't have to read her lips. "It's about time to plant the melons, sew the potatoes, and harvest the spinach, right? It's kind of awkward to say now, but I've really missed you guys. I bet baby Finch must be giving your momma all sorts of trouble now that she's gotten bigger."

Pepper and Root blinked and stared at her, surprised. The two siblings exchanged a look. Then they both threw their arms around Tansy and pulled her into a tight hug.

"We've missed you too," Pepper said, struggling to keep her voice steady. Tansy felt Root nod in agreement, and she had to struggle really hard not to cry as she returned their hug.

Their reunion was interrupted by a small voice.

"What are you all doing? Do you realize how weird you look?"

Tansy, Pepper, and Root lifted their heads and saw the small girl from 7 was staring up at them as if they had all grown a second head.

"We're friends," Tansy said.

"Oh," the small girl said, taken aback. "That sucks." With that she turned on her heel and walked away.

"What a strange kid," Pepper said with a frown.

"We're probably the strange ones in this situation," Root signed with a smile. The girls smiled back. They were used to being strange.

They looked around at the Career Tributes who were showing off, clearly trying to intimidate the field. Sean was with them. Apparently he had decided to ignore Finnick's advice to wait to show off their best skills. They saw the boy from 2 send a spear through a dummy's heart from fifteen yards. Tansy had thrown that far before, but she doubted there had been enough power behind it to be able to skewer a human through the chest like that. It was obvious the three of them would stand a much better chance of surviving if they teamed up.

"Where do you want to start?" Tansy asked.

"I'm thinking snares," said Pepper.

"I think we should learn how to use a weapon," Root signed.

"Either is fine with me," Tansy said. "Why don't we try both?"

Since the stations for snares and fighting were already full, they ended up crossing to an empty station where the trainer seemed pleased to have students. They got the feeling that knot-tying class was not the Hunger Games hot spot. But it was an important skill and Pepper and Root could use the practice. He started them off with a few basic knots, but when he learned they were interested in snares, he showed them a simple, excellent trap that would leave a human competitor dangling by a leg from a tree. They concentrated on this one skill for an hour until all three of them had mastered it. Then they moved on to camouflage since their first two choices were still full. Root genuinely seemed to enjoy that station, swirling the combination of mud and clay and berry juices around on his dark skin. He always had been creative. Tansy showed her friends how to weave disguises from vines and leaves. The trainer who ran the camouflage station was full of enthusiasm at their work. Tansy was better at weaving, but Root and Pepper were better at painting. Somewhere along the way, her friends stopped weaving disguises and started painting Tansy's paler skin. The alternating pattern of light and dark gave the appearance that she was covered in more leaves. When Tansy put on the disguise she weaved, she seemed to disappear, blending in with the bushes in the wooded set near the station completely. The trainer praised them so much they began to draw the attention of the other tributes, and a few decided to try it out for themselves. This freed up some spots at the station for snares. They spent another hour learning how to make an easy snare called a _noose._ Just as the name suggested, it was designed to tighten around the prey as it ran through it and could be just as easily be made using plants instead of wire or string.

Despite having been apart for four years, it felt so much like old times that they began to forget they were there to kill each other. Since none of them wanted to think about it, they all made a silent agreement to continue ignoring the issue for as long as possible and tried to enjoy their limited time together.

So the next three days passed with Tansy, Pepper, and Root going quietly from station to station. They did pick up some valuable skills, from hand-to-hand combat, to tracking, to how to find and purify water. Despite Finnick's advice to appear mediocre, Tansy excelled at knife throwing, as did Pepper. Root discovered he had a talent for tracking. Tansy stayed clear of the spears and tridents though, wanting to save those for her private sessions. Root and Pepper's mentor, Chaff, had advised them to hide their strengths until then too, so they avoided showing off their stealth and knowledge of edible plants. That suited Tansy just fine since no one other than those two knew she possessed those strengths, and she wanted to keep it that way.

The Gamemakers appeared early on the first day. Twenty or so men and women dressed in deep purple robes. They sat in the elevated stands that surrounded the gymnasium, sometimes wandering about to watch the tributes, jotting down notes, other times eating at the endless banquet that has been set for them, ignoring the lot of them. But they did seem to be keeping their eyes on the District 4 tributes. Several times Tansy looked up to find one fixated on her. They consulted with the trainers during the tributes' meals as well. They could be seen all gathered together when they came back.

Breakfast and dinner were served on the tributes' floors, but at lunch the twenty-four of them ate in a dinning room off the gymnasium. Food was arranged on carts around the room and they served themselves. The Career Tributes tended to gather rowdily around one table, as if to prove their superiority, that they had no fear of one another and considered the rest of them beneath notice. Most of the other tributes sat alone, like lost sheep. Except for Tansy, Pepper, and Root, who sat together in a triangle. No one spoke a word to them. Tansy was tempted to invite the girl from seven to eat with them, since she was only twelve, but Pepper and Root didn't want to get too attached to anyone else. Tansy decided that was probably a wise decision. She really hated the Games.

Tansy and her friends spent lunch talking of home. Mostly District 11. She was very curious as to how everyone she used to know had been doing since she left. But also of 4, because Pepper and Root were very curious about her knew family. So she told them stories about her father and Annie, learning how to swim, her adventures diving with the strange creatures in the ocean, how the variety of plants that grew there differed from the ones in 11. They hung onto her every word, trying to understand and imagine what it must have been like. They tell her how glad they are hear how well she was doing. They took turns trying every kind of bread in the breadbasket. Those in charge of providing their lunch had been careful to include types from the districts along with the refined bread of the Capitol. The fish-shaped loaf tinted green with seaweed from District 4. The crescent moon roll dotted with seeds from District 11. They even tried the ugly drop biscuits from 12. Tansy's favorites were the breads from 11 and 4, which tasted like home, and the Capitol bread, which was always soft and fluffy.

Back on the District 4 floor, Mags and Finnick would grill Tansy and Sean throughout breakfast and dinner about every moment of the day. What they did, who watched them, how the other tributes sized up. They were full of endless directions about what they should do and not do in training. Priscilla would occasionally give some of her own input. Tansy did her best to be patient, but Sean tended to become fed up and surly. Especially during the times when Finnick was out and otherwise occupied. Tansy hoped it was because he was securing potential sponsors. But his disappearances unsettled her, too. Every time he would return smelling of an unfamiliar perfume or cologne. She didn't like it. Sean told her he was probably playing around with some new lovers. Tansy didn't want to believe that. Finnick had Annie. But the looks in his and Mags' eyes whenever it happened made it difficult to ask. Whatever was going on, he didn't look like he was having a good time. When he thought no one was watching he looked miserable.

When they finally escaped to bed on the second night, Tansy slipped back out of her room to have a talk with him. She found Finnick lounging on the window seat again in the dark.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

Finnick looked confused when he saw her there. She had caught him off guard. "What? Yeah, it's nothing. I'm fine."

Tansy stared at him. "I know you're not."

Finnick gave her a wan smile. "Annie always said you were perceptive. She talks about you a lot, you know."

Tansy frowned. "Don't try to change the subject. It's fine if you don't want to talk about it. I just want to know if there's anything I can do to help."

"I can't talk about it, and there isn't anything you can do," he answered soberly. "Don't worry about me. Just focus on winning."

"Fine," Tansy said, trying not to pout, as she prepared to head back to her room. "Feel free to let me know if you change you mind."

Finnick smiled again. "You're a special girl, Tansy."

Tansy's eyebrows knitted together when she felt a light flutter in her stomach. "You should go to bed, Finnick. You're sleep-talking."

He laughed, stood up and ruffled her hair, wished her sweet dreams, and headed for his room. Tansy shook her head and went back to bed.

On the third day of training, they started to call the tributes out of lunch for their private sessions with the Gamemakers. District by district, first the boy, then the girl tribute. They all lingered in the dinning room, unsure where else to go. No one came back once they had left. Mags had told her and Sean to return to their floor after they were done, so maybe the others were doing that, too. Tansy knew it was almost her turn when they called for Sean.

"Remember to show them your skills with a slingshot, your knowledge of plants, and how fast you can climb." The words were out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

Root and Pepper nodded. "You, too," Pepper said. "Show them what you can really do."

Tansy nodded. She had promised Annie and Mags and Finnick that she would try to win. But if she was going to lose, she would rather Pepper or Root won than the others. From what they had told her about District 11, nothing much had changed. They still needed all the help they could get.

After about fifteen minutes, they called her name. Tansy smoothed her hair, set her shoulders back, and walked into the gymnasium. The Gamemakers were waiting for her to begin. Her heart was in her throat, but she quickly swallowed it, steeling her nerves.

Tansy walked to the weapons station and picked up a spear. She took a moment to get used to the difference in its weight compared to the one back home. She picked a dummy, stood ten yards away from it, and threw. She speared it right through the heart and it stuck. Then she grabbed a trident and stabbed another dummy in the gut with a sharp trust. She moved onto the dummy used for knife throwing next. She selected a handful of knives and aimed for the vital points. She missed a few, but none of the knives missed the dummy. She crossed from the weapon range to the obstacle course and showed them how swiftly and silently she could move. She demonstrated her agility by climbing the equipment and leaping from one piece to another like a monkey swinging from tree to tree. Then she made the snare the knot trainer showed them, purposefully caught herself in it to show that it worked, then deftly untied the knot and escaped in less than a minute. She completed the test for knowledge on edible plants in record time with a perfect score. They still weren't dismissing her, so she went back to the weapons range and attacked more dummies with the spear and trident a few more times. Then she gave them a slight bow to indicate that she was done. Some of the Gamemakers were still scribbling furiously when they dismissed her.

Since the training wasn't open to viewers, the Gamemakers would announce a score for each player later that night. It gave the audience a starting place for the betting that would continue throughout the Games. The number, which was between one and twelve, one being irredeemably bad and twelve being unattainably high, signified the promise of the tribute. The mark was not a guarantee of which person would win. It was only an indication of the potential a tribute showed in training. Often, because of the variables in the actual arena, high-scoring tributes went down almost immediately. Still, the scores can help or hurt an individual tribute in terms of sponsorship. Without a sponsor, a tribute's odds of staying alive could decrease to zero.

On her way up to the 4th floor, Tansy was wondering what kind of score she would get when Finnick entered the elevator on the ground floor. She hadn't seen him since last night. She was relieved when she noticed he didn't smell like perfume. Before she had a chance to say anything, they were at their floor.

"Finished your private session?" he asked as they exited the elevator.

She nodded.

"So how did it go?"

"Well," she said with a small smile, "I didn't miss any of the targets and I didn't maim anyone, so I think it went pretty well."

"Good to hear," said Finnick with a smirk. "Good news, Mags!" he said as they joined her in the sitting room. "Tansy says she managed not to maim anyone."

"Also, based on the stuff at the stations, I'm pretty sure we're going to be somewhere with red clay, pine trees, and possibly snow," Tansy added.

Mags smiled and gave her a thumbs-up.

Tansy looked around and realized someone was missing. "Where's Sean?" She liked to know where he was at all times now that he'd officially put her name on his 'to kill' list.

"Shower," Mags replied.

"You should get ready, too," Finnick told Tansy. "The stylists are coming to watch them give out the scores with us. But first, how about you give us a few more details about your session?"

Taking a warm shower made Tansy feel sleepy, so she decided to take a nap before dinner. She knew Finnick and Mags were using the time to compare notes on her and Sean's progress. They had seemed impressed with her account of how she displayed her skills. That was a relief. Cocooned in the warm comforter, Tansy quickly drifted off to sleep.

She woke up when Priscilla tapped on the door to call her to dinner. Everyone was waiting at the table, even Vita and Felix. Vita was pleased to see her again and greeted her with a hug before she sat down.

The adults began some chitchat about the weather forecast, and Tansy let her eyes meet Sean's. He was wearing a superior smirk on his face. He must have done well in his session, too. Tansy focused on taking tiny spoonfuls of her fish soup. Then, as they were serving the main course, she heard Felix say, "All right, enough small talk. What I really want to know is how our favorite boy and girl did today."

Tansy wasn't sure she wanted to answer that in front of Sean, but he didn't seem to care whether she heard or not. "I showed them my skills with a trident and spear," he said cockily.

"And you, Tansy?" Vita asked curiously.

"I did a little of the same," Tansy answered with a small shrug after a quick glance at Mags and Finnick. "The rest is a surprise."

Sean snorted. "What did you do? Show them your knot-making?"

"As a matter of fact, I did," Tansy replied smartly.

"Wow, I'm so intimidated," he said, rolling his eyes at her.

"Arrogance can be dangerous," Mags warned him. Underestimating your opponents was a sure way to get yourself killed fast in the arena.

After dinner, they went to the sitting room to watch the scores announced on television. First they showed a photo of the tribute, then flashed their score below it. The Career Tributes naturally get in the eight-to-ten range. Most of the other players averaged a five. Sean scored a 10. Everyone cheered and congratulated him. He was beaming with pride until they saw that Tansy had also been given a 10. Then he looked insulted. Priscilla Lush and Felix let out a pair of squeals, and everyone was slapping her on the back and cheering. Tansy hoped the other Careers didn't feel the same or she might end up on all their lists. Most of the other players averaged a five. She was delighted when Root scored a six and Pepper pulled a seven. She suspected Root's score had been affected by his deafness and Pepper's by her small and wiry frame. Even after days of gorging herself on Capitol food, she still didn't weigh more than eighty pounds soaking wet. Either way, they had all done well. Sean stomped off to his room. Mags shook her head at him. Finnick continued to smile as he patted Tansy on the head, but he was worried. There was no question Sean would be gunning for her now. He had been concerned when she formed an alliance with her former friends, because he knew it would make it even harder for her to kill them, but now he was glad she had. Tansy could use someone to watch her back. He just hoped it held in the chaos of the arena.

The stress of the day and the energy she had spent in her private session had worn Tansy out. When she retired to her room, she drifted off, reprieved, relieved, and with the number ten still flashing behind her eyelids. She wasn't out of the Games yet. For once, Tansy slept the whole night through.

At dawn, she lied in bed for a while, watching the sun come up on a beautiful morning. It was Sunday. A day off at home. Tansy wondered if her father had gone out in the boat, if Annie had started making breakfast yet. She wondered if Annie would go foraging. Usually they devoted all of Sunday to stocking up for the week. Rising early, fishing and gathering, buying what they couldn't find in the wild at the market. She thought of Annie on her own, searching high and low for figs because she forgot they weren't in season again. A pang of longing and loneliness shot through her chest. She missed her family. She hated that Pepper and Root had to be here. As the deadline for the start of the Games drew closer, her anxiety increased. The peace she felt the previous evening evaporated.

She thought of the ten flashing under her name last night. She knew exactly what her father would say to her. "Well, there's room for improvement there." And then Annie would nudge him in the side with her elbow, he'd give them a smile to let them know he'd been joking, she and Annie would return it, and they'd all have a laugh.

She couldn't help comparing what she had with Annie with what she had with Pepper and Root. How she never questioned Annie's motives, while now, even though she had never questioned them in the past, a sick feeling of doubt would sometimes creep over her about the latter's. It wasn't a fair comparison, really. Her relationships with Annie and the Pepper and Root she used to know had been based on a mutual need to survive as well as affection. In the present, Pepper, Root, and Tansy knew the other's survival meant their death. How do you sidestep that? Especially when the other was a sibling, like with Pepper and Root. A brother and sister pitted against each other like that. Their situation was the most despicable of all.

Pricilla knocked at the door, reminding her there was another "big, big, big day!" ahead. Tomorrow night would be their televised interviews. Tansy guessed the whole team would have their hands full readying them for that.

She got up, took a quick shower, and headed down to the dining room. Finnick, Mags, Priscilla, and Sean were huddled around the table talking in hushed voices. Finnick looked angry. That seemed odd, but hunger won out over curiosity and she loaded up her plate with breakfast before she joined them.

The stew smelled amazing. It was made with tender chunks of lamb, savory spices, and soft slices of quince today. Perfect on a bed of fragrant white rice. She had no idea the tough quince fruit could taste so amazing. The fruit was knobbly and ugly, with an irregular shape and often a gray fuzz. The ripest, nicest quince would have a golden tone and smooth skin. But even ripe quince didn't taste very good raw. Actually, it was completely inedible raw. She had discovered that the hard way she tried eating some she had found growing wild. Insects tasted better. Quince fruit also had an extremely tough and spongy flesh, which was difficult to cut up. She feared for her fingers every time she attacked the woody, oddly spongy yet unyielding interior of a quince. So you can imagine her surprise. The tough and inedible quince had become not just edible but delicious, sweet and fragrant. The cooked fruit had blossomed into an indescribably wonderful perfume of vanilla, citrus, and apple, and the fruit itself had magically turned from yellowed white to a deep rosy pink. Tansy couldn't get enough of it. She had shoveled about halfway through the mound when she realized no one was talking. She took a big gulp of hot chocolate and wiped her mouth. "So, what's going on? You're coaching us on interviews today, right?"

"That's right." Said Finnick, still grim.

"You don't have to wait for me to finish. I can listen and eat at the same time," she said.

"Except that we'll be coaching you separately," Finnick reminded her.

"Okay, so what's the schedule?"

"You'll each have four hours with Priscilla for presentation and four hours with me for content."

Tansy couldn't imagine what Priscilla would have to teach her that could take four hours, but she had her working down to the last minute. They went to Tansy's room and Priscilla put her in a full-length gown and high-heeled shoes, not the ones she would be wearing for the actual interview, and instructed her on walking. The shoes were the worst part. Tansy had never worn high-heeled shoes and couldn't get used to essentially wobbling around on the balls of her feet. It felt strange. But Priscilla ran around in them full-time, and Tansy was determined that if she could do it, so could she. The dress posed another problem. It kept tangling around her shoes so, of course, she hitched it up, and then Priscilla swooped down on her like a hawk, smacking her hands and yelling, "Not above the ankle!" When she finally conquered walking, there was still sitting, posture—apparently Tansy had the tendency to duck her head—eye contact, hand gestures, and smiling. Smiling was mostly about smiling more. Priscilla made her say a hundred banal phrases starting with a smile, while smiling, or ending with a smile. By lunch, the muscles in Tansy's cheeks were twitching from overuse.

"Well, that's the best I can do," Priscilla said with a sigh. "Just remember, Tansy, you want the audience to like you."

"And you don't think they will?" Tansy asked.

"Not if you glare at them the entire time. Why don't you save that for the arena? Instead, think of yourself among friends," said Priscilla.

Tansy scowled when she thought of Pepper and Root. She was among friends, that was the problem. Her patience had been wearing thin over the last four hours, and that was the last straw. "They're betting on how long we'll live!" she burst out.

"Well, try to forget about that for a moment! Pretend!" snapped Priscilla. Then she composed herself and beamed at her. "See, like this. I'm smiling at you even though you're aggravating me."

"Yes, it feels very convincing," Tansy said, beaming back at her. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go unscrew my smile so I can eat." She kicked off her heels and stomped out of the room.

"That was much better!" she heard Priscilla call after her as she made her way to the dining room.

Tansy hiked her skirt up to her thighs.

Finnick and Sean seemed to be in pretty good moods, so she was thinking the content session should be an improvement over the morning. She couldn't be more wrong. After lunch, and a brief apology to Priscilla for the things she meant but still should not have said in her hunger-exacerbated-anger, Finnick took Tansy into the sitting room, directed her to the couch, and then just frowned at her for a while. This was the most serious she had ever seen him.

"What?" she finally asked.

"I'm trying to figure out what to do with you," he said. "How we're going to present you. Are you going to be charming? Aloof? Fierce? So far you're shining like a star. You volunteered to save Annie. Vita made you look unforgettable. You've got a top training score. People are intrigued, but no one knows who you are. The impression you make tomorrow will decide exactly what I can get you in terms of sponsors," said Finnick.

Having watched the tribute interviews all her life, Tansy knew there was truth to what he was saying. If you appealed to the crowd, either by being humorous or brutal or eccentric, you gained favor.

"I've never been very good at pretending to be something I'm not. Can't I just be myself?" she said. "What's Sean's approach? Or am I not allowed to ask?"

"Cocky. He's strong and brutal, and he's planning to exude it from every pore. He has no problem talking about himself," said Finnick. "Personally, I would rather see you be yourself, too. But your natural self is always quiet and reserved around strangers. You avoid physical contact, and when you finally do open your mouth, all that comes out of it is sarcasm and sass."

Tansy frowned, feeling defensive. That had clearly been based on his own personal experience. She wasn't like that with everyone. "That's because you always teased me."

"I teased you to get you to talk to me," he said pointedly.

Tansy opened her mouth to respond, but stopped and thought about it. "Oh," she said dumbly. It was true. Until he started teasing her, she spoke a minimum of three words to him the few times they met. It was only in the last three or four days that she had begun to engage in proper conversations with him.

"But you can be very charming once you open up," Finnick reassured her. "The problem is figuring out how to keep you from crawling back inside your shell once you get on that stage. I don't know where you pulled that cheery, wavy girl on the chariot from, but we need to find her again."

Tansy chewed her lip. That _was_ going to be tough. Especially since she hated the Games and didn't want to be there. "Vita told me to pretend the only people in the audience were you, Mags, and everyone else I cared about."

Finnick leaned back, looking thoughtful. "Do you think that would work for the interview?"

"Maybe…" she said, "but I didn't have to do any talking last time."

"Would it help if you could pretend you were talking to me or Mags?" he asked.

"It would," she said, thinking carefully, "until I heard that Caesar guy's voice and remembered where I really was. Then I'll probably panic and go completely blank. Will you be sitting near the stage? I think it would really help if I could see you."

Finnick reached out and took one of her hands in his own. "If it was up to me, we'd be in the front row."

"I'm sensing a 'but'," said Tansy.

"But," Finnick said with a heavy sigh, "we're expected to stay back stage. We can only be with you right up until you go on."

"Showbiz sucks," Tansy pouted.

Finnick raised an eyebrow. That was the first time he heard her use that particular phrase.

Tansy shrugged. "I've been talking with the girl from 7. I like her spunk." She saw the look he was giving her. "I know, I know. Don't get attached."

"But she's right. Showbiz does suck when you're unprepared. So for now, let's just practice answering the types of questions they'll ask and building a rapport," Finnick suggested, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

Finnick took the role of interviewer and she tried to answer his questions in a winning fashion. He tried various approaches and attitudes to simulate a number of moods and circumstances she might encounter based on the different lines of questioning she might encounter. A little aggression came out sometimes about the nature of the Games. But talking with him was easier than she thought it might be, and that gave her a little more confidence. It was still only a practice run though.

Dinner was quiet. Everyone was thinking. Except Sean, who was confident he would ace his interview. Tansy was a little jealous. She wished she didn't have such a problem with public speaking, but she had spent so long guarding her words out of necessity for survival that she found it all the more difficult to overcome her anxiety.

It took a mug of warm milk and a lot of tossing and turning before she could fall asleep that night.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: The Calm Before The Storm**

* * *

In the morning, Tansy woke up to find her prep team hanging over her. Her lessons with Priscilla and Finnick were over. This day belonged to Vita. She was Tansy's last hope. Maybe Vita could maker her look so wonderful, no one would care what came out of her mouth.

The team worked on Tansy until late afternoon, turning her skin to glowing satin, conditioning her hair, painting a shimmery pink ombre on her twenty perfect nails. Then Fabia went to work on her hair, piling her glossy, springy curls on top of her head, letting some fall down to frame and soften her face in a sweet and playful style, decorated with a shimmering, pink ribbon formed from several layers of sheer fabric with a feathery silk rosette and carefully placed pearls of varying sizes. Again, the makeup is minimal, soft and pink. Bright eyes, lightly tinted lips, lashes that threw off subtle bits of light when she blinked. Finally, they cover her entire body in a powder that gives her skin a soft candlelight glow.

Then Vita entered with what Tansy assumed was her dress, but she couldn't see because it was covered. "Close your eyes," she ordered.

Tansy could feel the silken inside as they guided her to step into it and slipped it up over her naked body. She clutched Cassia's hand as she blindly stepped into her shoes, gland to find they were at least three inches lower than the pair Priscilla had her practice in. there was some adjusting and fidgeting. Then silence.

"Can I open my eyes?" Tansy asked.

"Yes," said Vita softly. "Open them."

The girl standing before Tansy in the full-length mirror was fresh, sweet, and innocent. Beautiful and flawless like a life-sized doll, but singing with life. Her dress, oh, her dress was made entirely from layers upon layers of tiered sections of sheer, shimmery and pearlescent pink fabric that began pale as porcelain at the sides and deepened to a rosy hue toward the center. The last tier stopped three inches above her knees. A sheer layer of feathery silk ruffles peeked out from underneath and brought the hemline down another inch. The top tier wrapped around to form off-the-shoulder sleeves and each was adorned with a feathery pink silk rosette. Covering the tops of her shoulders and her arms down to the wrists was another sheer, silken pink fabric lined with tiny glimmering sequins that matched the medium shade in the tiers. The ends of the long sleeves were trimmed with a line of white pearls. The shoes were blush pink to complement the dress with crisscrossing straps and matching rosettes.

Tansy was not usually into looking so soft and feminine and full of ruffles, but the lines of the dress were clean and sophisticated. She was not cute. She was not pretty. She was graceful and precious like a budding rose. Young and full of potential that was just waiting to blossom.

For a while, they all just stared at her. "Oh, Vita," she finally whispered. "Thank you."

Vita smiled kindly. "Give me a gentle spin," she said. Tansy held out her arms and spun in a slow circle so she could observe every detail and make sure nothing was out of place. The prep team squealed in admiration. They wanted to slip her into their pockets and take her home with them.

Vita dismissed the team and had Tansy move around in the dress and shoes, which were infinitely more manageable than Priscilla's. The way the dress hung was very flattering and easy to move in. Despite how delicate it looked, it felt comfortable to wear, and because of the short length she didn't need to worry about lifting it when she walked, leaving her with one less thing to worry about. She couldn't help giving Vita a hug when she showed her the secret pocket that was added so she could still keep her conch pearl choker with her even though they had told her she wouldn't be wearing it for the interview.

"So, ready for the interview?" asked Vita. Tansy could see by her expression that she had been talking to Finnick.

"He wants me to be myself," Tansy said, fidgeting nervously, "but I'm bad with strangers."

"I don't find you so," Vita assured her. "The prep team adores you. You won over the Gamemakers. And as for the citizens of the Capitol, well, they can't stop talking about you. No one can help but admire your spirit."

Her spirit. This was a new thought for Tansy. She wasn't sure exactly what it meant, but it suggested she was a fighter. In a brave sort of way. And, now that she thought about, she supposed she was. A fighter, someone who strived to survive. Up until now, hadn't she done just that? There were plenty of times when she could've given up but for some reason she never did. It wasn't as if she was never friendly. Okay, maybe she didn't go around immediately loving and opening up to everyone she met, maybe her real smiles could be hard to come by, but she did care very deeply for some people.

Vita took Tansy's cold hands in her warm ones. "I heard it would be easier for you if you had a friend in your line of sight, so you can pretend you're talking to them if you get nervous."

Tansy nodded.

"What about me? Could you think of me as a friend?" asked Vita.

Of all the new people she had met since she left home, Vita was by far her favorite. Tansy liked her and she hadn't disappointed her yet. "I think so," Tansy said, taking a moment to consider it. Everything Vita had done for her since her arrival. The pocket for her choker. "I think you're someone I can trust."

Vita smiled. "I'll be sitting on the main platform with the other stylists. You'll be able to look right at me. When you're asked a question, find me, and answer it as honestly as possible."

"Even if what I think is horrible?" Tansy asked. Because it really might be.

"Especially if what you think is horrible," said Vita, giving her hands a reassuring squeeze.

"All right," Tansy said, squeezing back. It was a plan. Or at least a straw to grasp at.

Too soon it was time to go. The interviews took place on a stage constructed in front of the Training Center. Once Tansy left her room, it would only be minutes until she was in front of the crowd, the cameras, all of Panem.

As Vita turned the doorknob, Tansy was tempted to stop her hand. As if sensing this, Vita paused and looked her. "Remember, they already love you," she said gently. "Just be yourself."

They met up with the rest of the District 4 crowd at the elevator. Felix and his gang had been hard at work. Sean looked striking in a blue suit with wave accents. It appeared they were still channeling the Neptune theme. Even though they were meant to stay back stage, Finnick and Mags were all fancied up for the occasion.

Finnick was speechless when he saw Tansy. While Mags held her hand and told her how beautiful she looked, he felt his chest tighten. She was so young and innocent it hurt to look at her.

"I want them to remember," Vita said quietly so only he could hear. "I want them to remember they're doing this to a child."

Despite the calm expression on her face, she was angry. So was he. "Good," said Finnick. They wanted everyone in the Capitol to be ashamed of themselves when they saw Tansy. Let their guilt drive them to fight to be her sponsors so they could try to feel better about all the pain they were forcing her to endure.

When the elevator opened, the other tributes were being lined up to take the stage. All twenty-four of them sat in a big arc throughout the interviews. Tansy would be seventh since the girl tribute preceded the boy from each district. She wished she could be first and get the whole thing over with. Now she would have to listen to how witty, funny, humble, fierce, and charming all the Careers were before she went up.

Right before they paraded onto to the stage, Finnick took her by the hand. "Remember, Vita will be with you out there and we'll be over here, so you're not alone. Just be yourself, and they'll love you," he said, and gave her an encouraging smile. Mags nodded in agreement and did the same.

Tansy managed to smile back and she held it there as she and the other tributes were given the cue to walk single-file to their seats and take their places.

Just stepping onto the stage made her breath hitch. She could feel her pulse pounding in her chest. It was a relief to get to her chair, because between the heels and her legs shaking, she was afraid she would trip. Although evening was falling, the City Circle was brighter than a summer's day. An elevated seating unit had been set up for prestigious guests, with the stylists commanding the front row. The cameras would turn to them when the crowd was reacting to their handiwork. A large balcony off a building to the right had been reserved for the Gamemakers. Television crews claimed most of the other balconies. But the City Circle and the avenues that fed into it were completely packed with people. Standing room only. At homes and community halls around the country, every television set was tuned in. there would be no blackouts tonight.

Caesar Flickerman, the man who has hosted the interviews for more than forty years, bounces onto the stage. It's a little scary because his appearance has been virtually unchanged during all that time. Same face under a coating of pure white makeup. Same hairstyle that he dyes a different color for each Hunger Games. Same ceremonial suit, midnight blue dotted with a thousand tiny electric bulbs that twinkled like stars. They did surgery in the Capitol, to make people appear younger and thinner. In District 11, and for most people in 4, looking old was considered something of an achievement. Especially in 11, where so many people died early. Starvation was not an uncommon fate in District 11. Who hadn't seen the victims? Older people who couldn't work. Children from a family with too many to feed. Those crippled by injuries that never healed right because they couldn't afford proper treatment. Straggled through the streets. And one day, you would come upon them sitting motionless against a wall or lying in the fields, you heard the wails from a house, and the Peacekeepers were called in to retrieve the body. Starvation was never the cause of death officially. It was always the flu, or exposure, or pneumonia. But that fooled no one. You saw an elderly person, you wanted to congratulate them on their longevity, ask the secret of survival. A plump person was envied because they weren't scraping by like the majority. But here it was different. Wrinkles weren't desirable. A round belly wasn't a sign of success.

This year, Caesar's hair was canary yellow and his eyelids were lined with a deep, metallic blue to match his suit. He looked strange, but less frightening than he had some years in the past. Caesar told a few jokes to warm up the audience but then got down to business.

The girl tribute from District 1, looking provocative in a see-through silver gown, stepped up the center of the stage to join Caesar for her interview. You could tell her mentor didn't have any trouble coming up with an angle for her. With that flowing platinum-blonde hair, grey eyes, her body tall and lush… she was sexy all the way. Tansy was relieved sexy hadn't been her angle, because she probably would have died the minute she was made to set foot on a stage in something like that.

Each interview only lasted three minutes. Then a buzzer went off and the next tribute was up. Tansy sat like a lady, the way Priscilla showed her, as the districts slipped by. 1, 2, 3. Everyone seemed to be playing up some angle. The monstrous boy from District 2 was a ruthless killing machine. The twitchy boy from 3 was an eccentric genius.

And then they were calling Tansy Cresta, and she felt herself, as if in a dream, standing and making her way center stage. She had spotted Vita as soon as she took her place, but even her presence could not relax Tansy. Her palms were sweating like crazy. As soon as she discretely wiped them off on her dress, they were wet again. She shook Caesar's outstretched hand, and he had the good grace not to immediately wipe his off on his suit.

"Oh, my," said Caesar with a good-natured smile, "looks like someone's a little nervous. Are you feeling overwhelmed, Tansy?"

Her mouth had gone dry as sand. She wiped her hands on her skirt again and felt the lump from her choker in the secret pocket. She desperately tried to find Vita in the crowd again and locked eyes with her. She imagined the words coming from her lips. "Terrified," Tansy answered honestly. "I'd rather swim with sharks."

Caesar laughed, and she vaguely realized many of the audience had joined in.

"Sharks?" he said, turning sideways to the audience in horror, hand on his face. "Yikes! I'm not that intimidating, am I?" They shout reassurances to him and applaud. "Well, it can't be all bad. What's your favorite part about the Capitol?"

Tansy realized he was trying to help her out. "The lamb stew," she said, volunteering the first thing that came to mind, "the one with the quince. I know how hard it is to make quince edible, so I was really impressed with the rich, complex flavor they were able to draw out of it."

"Sounds like you're quite the gourmet," Caesar remarked.

"Yes." Tansy managed a smile. "My love for food is as bottomless as my stomach." She turned aside to the audience the way he had just a moment ago, careful to keep her eyes locked with Vita's as she asked with mock horror, "It doesn't show, does it?"

That earned more laughs from Caesar and the audience, and they shouted reassurances to her and applauded her for playing along.

"Tansy, I believe I speak for everyone when I say, you look absolutely fabulous," Caesar said confidently, before taking a more confidential tone with her. "When you came out in the opening ceremonies, my heart actually stopped. What did you think of your costume?"

Vita raised one eyebrow at her. Be honest. "You mean after I got over my fear of falling off the chariot?" Tansy asked.

Big laugh from the audience.

"Yes. Start then," said Caesar.

Vita, her friend, she should tell her anyway. "My heart stopped, too. I thought Vita was brilliant and it was the most beautiful costume I had ever seen and I couldn't believe I was wearing it. I can't believe I'm wearing this, either." She held her arms out slightly to give the audience a better view of the whole dress. "I mean, look at it!" The audience _oohed_ and _ahed_. Vita smiled. "I don't usually go for pink frilly things, but honestly, she's turning me into a fan."

"She's turning me into a fan, too," said Caesar with a side wink at the audience.

More laughs and cheers.

"So, how about that training score? Ten. That's quite impressive for one so young," said Caesar.

Tansy bit her lip and placed her hand over the pocket holding her choker. "I think I'll save that as a surprise for the Game."

"You're killing us," said Caesar as if in actual pain. "Details. Details."

"Sorry, but my lips are sealed," she said mysteriously. She didn't want to reveal the skills she'd been hiding in front of the other tributes prematurely. "I will say this, though. If you underestimate me because I'm young, you're going to regret it."

"Speaking of young," said Caesar, "Tansy, isn't rather unusual for a younger sibling to volunteer for an older one? What were you thinking when they called your sister's name? Can you tell us about her?"

No. No. Not all of them. But maybe Vita. Tansy didn't think she was imagining the sadness on her face. "Her name is Annie. She's eighteen. That's why I volunteered. Because after this year, she'll be safe. And I love her more than anything."

You could hear a pin drop in the City Circle now.

"What did she say to you? After the reaping?" Caesar asked.

Be honest. Be honest. She swallowed hard. "She asked me to try really hard to win." The audience was frozen, hanging on her every word.

"And what did you say?" prompted Caesar gently.

The memory of her sister clinging to her and crying, begging her to come home brought tears to her eyes, and Tansy had no time to suppress them before were rolling down the sides of her cheeks. It was hard to keep her voice steady. "I promised I would."

There were croons of sympathy and heartache from the audience.

"I bet you did," said Caesar, giving her his silk handkerchief. The buzzer went off while she patted her cheeks dry, taking care not to smear her makeup. "Sorry we're out of time. Best of luck, Tansy Cresta, tribute from District 4."

The applause continued long after she was seated. Tansy looked to Vita for reassurance. She smiled gently and gave her a subtle thumbs-up.

Tansy was still in a daze for the first part of Sean's interview. He had the audience from the get-go, though; she could hear them laughing, shouting out. He played up his experience with wielding tridents, citing how he had been practicing with them since he was young and had been waiting for this opportunity his whole life without openly mentioning his sixteen years of training to become a Career. He was cocky and self-assured. He had no doubt the Games would end with his victory. Tansy was coming back into focus when Caesar asked him if he had a girlfriend back home.

Sean wore a winning smile. "Many, Caesar, but I'm always on the look out for another," he said, making what Tansy supposed was an attempt to be enticing and sensual.

Spare me, she thought, rolling her eyes.

Some small laughs came from the audience, followed by a much bigger laugh. There was confusion from everyone on stage, as neither Sean nor Caesar had said anything more, but Tansy soon understood why when she let her eyes flicker up to the screen fast enough to see that they had captured her unmistakable eye-roll and obvious disdain for his answer. Tansy's jaw went slack when she realized what she had done. She quickly shut her mouth and straightened up when Sean whipped around to glare at her.

"Uh-oh, looks like we've got a little trouble in paradise," said Caesar teasingly. "Is there something going on between the two of you?"

"Only annoyance at first sight," Sean answered vindictively. "If she was my girlfriend, I'd put poison in her hot chocolate."

"If you were my boyfriend, I'd drink it," Tansy fired back automatically.

More laughs. Some of the audience even appeared to be rolling in their seats.

"Now, now, Tansy. You've already had your turn." Caesar chided her playfully, pretending to have a hard time suppressing his own amusement.

The roar of the crowd was deafening. Sean was livid. Tansy couldn't say she blamed him, but she didn't appreciate the death glares he was shooting her way. It wasn't like she had gotten caught on purpose. She thought all the cameras would be focused on him. She didn't even like being in the spotlight.

The buzzer went off, ending Sean's interview. Tansy did her best to ignore his scowling and glaring when he returned to his seat next to hers and to not shrink away from him while they were in public. The interviews continued. She could say this for Caesar, he really did his best to make the tributes shine. He was friendly, tried to set the nervous ones at ease, laughed at lame jokes, and could turn a weak response into a memorable one by the way he reacted. 5, 6. The small girl from District 7, who was only 12, came off as quick-whited and sly. 8, 9, 10. It was District 11's turn.

Pepper and Root, wearing complementary outfits with a canary yellow color scheme stepped up to take their interview together. For the first time that night, Tansy got a good look at them. She was relieved for her friends, because it appeared their stylist had acquired some taste since the opening ceremony. Her eyes widened in surprise when she realized what kind of flowers Pepper had in her hair and Root had tucked in the buttonhole of his suit's lapel. Those little yellow flowers that looked like fuzzy buttons could only be one thing, tansy. They were wearing her flower. She wondered if their stylist had chosen it by coincidence, or if there was some deeper meaning attached to it. Caesar made a joke about how all three of them seemed to match and explained a special allowance had been made for them since Root's deafness made it difficult for him to communicate. Caesar was very kind to them, complementing their scores of seven and six in training, again, excellent scores for one so young, as well as for one suffering from a hearing impairment. When he asks what their greatest strengths will be in the arena, Pepper doesn't hesitate. "My brother may be deaf, but that's only made his sight and sense of smell sharper. We're very hard to catch," she said in a tremulous voice while Root held her hand. "And if they can't catch us, they can't kill us. So don't count us out."

"I wouldn't dream of it," said Caesar encouragingly.

The boy tribute from 12 refused to answer any of Caesar's questions. He just stood there, as if he had already given up. The limping girl from 12 was quiet but more responsive.

After the anthem, the tributes filed back into the Training Center lobby and onto the elevators. Tansy made sure to veer into a car that did not contain Sean. Unfortunately the car containing Pepper and Root was full, so Tansy ended up with the tributes from 5 and the girl from 7. The crowd slowed their entourages of stylists and mentors and chaperones, so they had only each other for company. No one spoke. Her elevator stopped to let her off first. Tansy had only just stepped onto the fourth floor when Sean's palms slammed into her shoulders. She lost her balance and crashed into a large glass vase filled with fake flowers. The vase tipped and shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces. She slipped on one of the shards and fell, managing to catch herself against the wall so she wouldn't land in the rest of the shards and get cut.

"You had no right! No right to make a fool of me during my own interview!" he roared furiously at her.

Fortunately, the elevator doors opened then and the whole crew was there, Priscilla, Finnick, Mags, Vita, and Felix.

"What's going on?" said Priscilla, a note of hysteria in her voice. "Did you fall?"

"After he shoved me," Tansy said as Mags and Vita helped her up from the awkward position she was in. She didn't like to tattle, but who knew what would have happened if the others hadn't arrived when they did?

Finnick turned on Sean. "Shoved her?" He had been afraid something like this might happen.

"This was your idea, wasn't it? Turning me into some kind of fool in front of the whole country?" Sean snapped.

"What are you talking about?" said Priscilla. "Your banter with her was your most likeable moment."

She and Felix jumped when Sean punched a hole in the wall. "Shut up! I know she's the one you all want to win!" he shouted.

You could have heard a pin drop in the moment of silence that followed.

"Calm down. We haven't done anything for her that we haven't done for you," Finnick said evenly. "And Priscilla's right. It may not seem like it to you, but that little exchange may have actually helped you. You were coming of too arrogant, and most of the audience had begun to tune you out. At least now they'll remember you."

"The audience loved the two of you before and they love you even more now that you've proved you can be entertaining," Priscilla added.

"Sponsors'll be lining up," said Mags.

Sean opened his mouth to argue but then he shut it as their words sank in. His anger seemed to turn to embarrassment. "Whatever," he said moodily. He turned on his heel and stomped off to hide out in his room.

"That boy!" Priscilla huffed. "I'm going to go make him give you a proper apology."

"It doesn't matter," Tansy said, shrugging it off, even though she was still a little rattled. And what he did was technically illegal. "Can we eat? I'm starving."

Once she had assured everyone she was perfectly fine and hadn't been injured in even the slightest way, they followed the delicious smells of their dinner that had wafted in from the dining room and took their places at the table. They started the creamy crab and corn bisque soup without Sean. If he didn't feel like coming back out, he could order something to eat in his room. Dinner was quiet, which suited Tansy just fine after all the talking she had to do for her interview.

After dinner, they watched the replay in the sitting room. Tansy thought she seemed a bit silly and vulnerable, although the others assured her she was charming. The audience had been behind her the whole way. The outfit Vita put her in had helped her look innocent enough to make her battle with stage fright endearing. She came off better than Sean, who started off strong but soon lost the audience's interest, until Tansy rolled her eyes at him and they exchanged barbs. That had definitely grabbed the audience's attention again. For a moment, Tansy wasn't just putting on a brave face. She had popped fully out of her shell and it gave her a little spark of spunk that she had been missing before. That she had been able to give the audience proof she could bring out her claws, too, made Tansy feel a little better. And whatever the audience thought about them, their outburst was, by all accounts the most memorable part of the show.

When the anthem finished and the screen went dark, a hush fell on the room. Tomorrow at dawn, Tansy and Sean would be roused and prepared for the arena. The actual Games didn't start until ten because so many of the Capitol residents rose late. But the tributes had to make an early start. There was no telling how far they would travel to the arena that had been prepared for this year's Games.

Tansy knew Finnick, Mags, and Priscilla would not be going with them. As soon as they left the Training Center, they would be at the Games Headquarters, hopefully madly signing up her and Sean's sponsors, working out a strategy on how and when to deliver gifts to them. Vita and Felix would travel with her and Sean to the very spot from which they would be launched into the arena. Still final goodbyes must be said here.

Priscilla took Tansy by the hand and, with actual tears in her eyes, wished her well. Then she kissed her on the cheek and hurried out, overcome with the emotional parting. Tansy hadn't realized the escort had become so attached to her.

"We'll see you tomorrow," Vita said with a small smile and hug. "Try to get some sleep."

"I will," said Tansy. She would try, because this was her last chance to sleep in safety and she would need her strength.

Felix looked like he wanted to hug her, too, but settled for giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. The stylists showed themselves out.

Mags wrapped her arms around Tansy and held her tight. "Take care. We'll be watching," she said, misty-eyed. "Fight to win. Avoid cornucopia." Tansy hugged Mags back and kissed her goodnight on the cheek. With one last squeeze, Mags retired to her room with a heavy heart.

It was just Tansy and Finnick now.

"Any final words of advice?" she asked.

No smiles. No jokes. "Mags is right, don't go anywhere near the blood bath. When that gong sounds, get the hell out of there. Clear out, put as much distance between yourself and the others, and find a source of water," he said grimly. "Got it?"

Tansy nodded. He pulled her into a strong, firm hug. Her chest tightened and her stomach fluttered. "Stay alive," Finnick whispered in earnest. "Don't forget we're all waiting for you to come back. Annie's waiting for you, Tansy." She felt tears form in her eyes as she pictured what would happen to Annie if she didn't make it and brought her hands up to clutch the back of his shirt, burying her face against his shoulder.

When she entered her room, she saw her covers had been drawn back by one of the silent attendants. She still wondered why they never talked. Would they get in trouble if they did? Maybe she should have made Finnick promise to tell her if she won. But that was a big if.

Tansy took a shower and scrubbed the powder, makeup, the scent of beauty from her body. All that remained of the design-team's efforts were her shimmery pink nails. She decided to keep them as a reminder of the friends she had outside the arena. Perhaps it would give her something to hold onto in the days to come. With all the ugly violence she was sure to witness, it might be nice to have something pretty to look at.

She pulled on a thick, fleecy nightgown and ordered hot milk. She took her time drinking it, enjoying its warm scent and the quiet. The calm before the storm. She did her best to empty herself of all thoughts of anxiety. She needed sleep desperately because in the arena every moment she gave into fatigue would be an invitation to death. She tucked herself into bed. It took about a minute before she realized she would never fall asleep, but she closed her eyes and tried again.

It's no good. One hour, two, three passed, and her eyelids refused to get heavy. She couldn't stop imagining all the different types of terrain she could be thrown into. Wherever it was, she was hoping for trees, which may afford her and her friends some concealment and food and shelter. Often there were trees because barren landscapes were dull and the Games resolved too quickly without them. But what would the climate be like? What traps had the Gamemakers hidden to liven up the slower moments? And then there were her friends and fellow tributes… She and Pepper and Root could only work together for so long before they would be expected to turn on each other. The one thing Tansy did know was that she wasn't going to be the one to attack them. She wouldn't let that happen.

The more anxious she was to find sleep, the more it eluded her. Finally, she was too restless to even stay in bed. She paced the floor, heart beating too fast, breathing too short. Her room felt like a prison cell. If she didn't get air soon, she was going to be sick. She wanted to see the sky and the moon on the last night no one would be hunting her. Tansy ran down the hall until she crashed into something warm and solid. It was Finnick. He couldn't sleep either.

"Whoa! Slow down," he said, placing his hand on her shoulders to hold her steady. One look at her told him all he needed to know. "Come on, let's get some air." Tansy followed him into the elevator. They rode up to the twelfth floor, where he led her by the hand up a flight of stairs to the roof. There was a small dome-shaped roof with a door to the outside. As they stepped into the cool, windy evening air, Tansy caught her breath at the view. They could see practically the whole city. The Capitol twinkled like a vast sea of stars. Electricity was limited in the Districts. Even in 4, it was turned off late in the evenings as part of the curfew. Often the evenings were spent in candlelight. The only time you could truly count on it was when they were airing the games or some important government message on television that was mandatory to watch. But here there would be no shortage. Ever.

She let go of Finnick's hand and walked to a railing at the edge of the roof. She looked straight down the side of the building to the street, which was buzzing with people. She could hear their cars, an occasional shout, and a strange metallic tinkling. Tansy had never been so high before. She wondered what it would be like to fall from there. She was surprised the door wasn't locked. Someone might be tempted to try it.

"You look like you're wondering why they let tributes up here," Finnick said, leaning against the railing beside her. "It's impossible to jump from here. There's an electric force field that throws you right back on the roof."

"Always worried about our safety," Tansy said. She leaned down and rested her chin on top of her hands. Even though Finnick had shown her the roof, she wondered if they were supposed to be up there, so late and alone. She had never seen tributes on the Training Center roof before. The wide streets were full of dancing people. She squinted to make out their tiny figures in more detail. "Are they in costumes?"

"Who can tell?" said Finnick. Tansy smiled slightly. That was true, with all the crazy clothes they wore here. "What's keeping you up?"

"Couldn't turn my mind off," she said.

"Thinking about Annie and your dad?" he asked.

"Yeah, but mostly all I can do is wonder about tomorrow. Which is pointless, since there's nothing I can do about it." It was dark on the roof but in the light from below she could see his face. He looked just as troubled as she felt. "What's keeping you up?"

"Mostly worrying about tomorrow," he answered honestly.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," she deadpanned.

"You know what I mean," he said, ruffling her hair. "What's got you worried the most?"

Tansy took a moment to consider. More than the climate or the availability of trees, she wished she could think of a way to show the Capitol they didn't own her or her friends. That they were more than just a piece in their Games. But they weren't. That was how the Games worked. They were a public execution where the tributes were forced to do the Capitol's dirty work for them. "I don't know how to say it exactly," she said carefully. "Just… whatever happens, whether I live or die, I want to be able to say I did it as myself. I don't want to let them turn me into something I'm not."

Finnick looked at her, concerned. "Are you saying you won't kill anyone?" he asked.

"No, I'm sure I'll kill just like everyone else when the time comes. I won't go down without a fight. If someone tries to kill me, of course I'll have to fight back. But I'm not going to go out of way to kill. I won't put on a show for them," Tansy said grimly. She felt Finnick place a hand on her back.

"You're cold," he said gently. "Let's go back inside."

Then they turned and left the roof. Neither of them felt like going back to bed, so they ended up sitting on the couch together under a couple of soft, decorative throws. Finnick held her hand, and Tansy let her head rest against his shoulder.

She spent the rest of the night slipping in and out of a doze, plagued by nightmares of overlapping images from previous Hunger Games, featuring raging beast tributes, the kind who tried to eat someone's heart after they'd killed them. There was a guy like in last year's Games from District 6 called Titus. He went completely savage and the Gamemakers had to have him stunned with electric guns to collect the bodies of the players he had killed before he ate them. There were no rules in the arena, but cannibalism didn't play well with the Capitol audience, so they tried to head it off. There was some speculation that the avalanche that finally took Titus out was specifically engineered to ensure the victor was not a lunatic. Tansy was glad that she and Finnick had both fallen asleep on the couch, because seeing a familiar face when she stirred reminded her she was still safe. For now.

Tansy didn't see Finnick in the morning. She woke up alone, tucked into her own bed. Vita came to her before dawn, gave her a simple shift to wear, and guided her to the roof. Her final dressing and preparations would be done in the catacombs under the arena itself. A hovercraft appeared out of thin air, and a ladder dropped down. Tansy placed her hands and feet on the lower rungs and instantly it was as if she was frozen. Some sort of current glued her to the ladder while she was lifted inside.

She expected the ladder to release her then, but Tansy was still stuck when a woman in a white coat approached her carrying a syringe. "This is just your tracker, Tansy. The stiller you are, the more efficiently I can place it," she said.

Still? Tansy was a statue. But that didn't prevent her from feeling the sharp stab of pain as the needle inserted the metal tracking device deep under the skin on the inside of her forearm. Now the Gamemakers would always be able to trace her whereabouts in the arena. Wouldn't want to lose a tribute.

As soon as the tracker was in place, the ladder released Tansy. The woman disappeared and Vita was retrieved from the roof. A silent girl came in and directed them to a room where breakfast had been laid out. Despite the tension in her stomach, Tansy ate as much as she could, although none of the delectable food made any impression on her. She was so nervous, she could be eating sand. The only thing that distracted her at all was the view from the windows as they sailed over the city and then to the wilderness beyond. This was what birds saw. Only they were free and safe. The complete opposite of her.

The ride lasted about an hour before the windows blacked out, suggesting that they were nearing the arena. The hovercraft landed and Vita and Tansy went back to the ladder, only this time it leads down into a tube underground, into the catacombs that lay beneath the arena. They followed instructions to their destination, a chamber for Tansy's preparation. In the Capitol, they called it the Launch Room. In the districts, it's referred to as the Stockyard. The place animals went before slaughter.

Everything was brand-new, she would be the only tribute to use this Launch Room. The arenas were historic sites, preserved after the Games, Popular destinations for Capitol residents to visit, to vacation. Go for a month, rewatch the Games, tour the catacombs, visit the sites where the deaths took place. They could even take part in reenactments.

They said the food was excellent.

Tansy struggled to keep her breakfast down as she showered and cleaned her teeth. Vita tamed her curly hair into a halo of milkmaid braids to protect the ends and keep it out of her face while she was running. Then the clothes arrived, the same for every tribute. Vita had no say in her outfit, didn't even know what would be in the package, but she helped Tansy dress in the undergarments, a layer of long-sleeved shirt with a turtleneck and leggings made from thin, stretchy material, a seastorm blue long-sleeved V-neck shirt, water-resistant tawny pants, sturdy brown belt, and a medium-weight, hooded seastorm blue jacket that fell to her thighs. "Each item has been made using materials that are designed to reflect and conserve body heat. You're going somewhere very cold," Vita said.

The boots, worn over two layers of skintight socks, were better than Tansy could have hoped for. A sturdy, waterproof material to keep out snow. They had a narrow flexible rubber sole with treads. Good for both running and climbing.

Then Vita replaced her conch pearl choker around her neck for her. Vita had made a slight adjustment so it could hold the abalone pearl Annie gave her, too. It was going to be her district token. Tansy had been reluctant to let it out of her sight, but it had to be cleared by the review board before she could wear it into the arena. "There, you're all set. Move around. Make sure everything feels comfortable," Vita said.

Tansy walked, ran in a circle, swung her arms about. "Yes, it's fine. Fits perfectly."

"Then there's nothing to do but wait for the call," said Vita. "Unless you think you could eat some more?"

Tansy accepted a small plate of food and a glass of water that she took small bites and tiny sips from as they waited on a couch. She wasn't entirely sure whether it would stay down or not, but she needed all the calories she could get. Who knew when her next real meal would be?

She had to stop when nervousness seeped into terror as she anticipated what was to come. She could be dead, flat-out dead, in an hour. Not even. Her fingers obsessively traced the hard little lump on her forearm where the woman injected the tracking device. She pressed on it, even though it hurt, she pressed on it so hard a small bruise began to form.

"Do you want to talk, Tansy?" Vita asked.

Tansy shook her head. She felt like she would throw up if she opened her mouth again. But after a moment she held out her hand to Vita. Vita enclosed it in both of hers. And this was how they sat until a pleasant female voice announced it was time to prepare for launch.

Still clenching one of Vita's hands, Tansy walked over and stood on the circular metal plate. "Remember what Finnick and Mags said. Run, find water. The rest will follow," Vita said. Tansy nodded. "And remember to take care of yourself. We're all waiting for you to come back. I know you can do it."

"Really?" Tansy whispered.

"Really," said Vita. She gave Tansy a kiss on the cheek. "Good luck. See you later, Tansy."

"Wait! I want you to know I'm glad we met. Thank for coming back for me," Tansy said anxiously as the glass cylinder was lowering around her, breaking their handhold, cutting them off from each other. Tansy was worried that maybe Vita hadn't heard her, but the older woman smiled warmly at her. She tapped her fingers under her chin. Head high.

Tansy lifted her chin and stood as straight as she could. The cylinder began to rise. For maybe fifteen seconds, she was in darkness and then she could feel the metal plate pushing her out of the cylinder, into the open air. For a moment, her eyes were dazzled by the bright sunlight and she was conscious only of a strong, cold wind with the hopeful smell of pine trees.

Then she heard the legendary announcer, Claudius Templesmith, as his voice boomed all around her.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let the Seventieth Hunger Games begin!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6:** **Game On**

* * *

Sixty seconds. That's how long they were required to stand on their metal circles before the sound of a gong released them. Step off before the minute was up, and land mines would blow your legs off. Sixty seconds to take in the ring of tributes all equidistant from the Cornucopia, a giant golden horn shaped like a cone with a curved tail, the mouth of which was at least twenty feet high, spilling over with things that would give them life in the arena. Food, containers of water, weapons, medicine, garments, fire starters. Strewn around the Cornucopia were other supplies, their value decreased the farther they were from the horn. But there in the mouth, she could see all sorts of goodies, like a tent pack that would protect from almost any sort of weather. If she had the guts to go in and fight for it against the other twenty-three tributes. Which she had been instructed not to do.

They were on a flat, open stretch of ground. A clearing of white snow. The clearing was in some kind of valley or canyon with massive red rock walls rising up all around to frame a peppered sea of green and white. Behind the tributes across from her, Tansy could see a waterfall cutting through the wall of red rock in the distance and a winding river. The river curved around to her right. Behind her, more river. They must be in the curve of a bend. To her left, sparse woods. That was where Mags and Finnick would want her to go. Immediately. That was where she needed to be. That was where she knew Pepper and Root would run, even though she couldn't see them because the Cornucopia blocked her view.

But it was tempting, so tempting when she saw the bounty waiting there before her. And she knew that if she didn't get it, someone else would. That the Careers who survived the bloodbath would divide up most of these life-sustaining spoils. The cold bite in the air could turn deadly at night without a source of warmth. Lighting a fire would draw too much unwanted attention. She thought she should at least attempt to grab a blanket roll. Something caught her eye. There, resting on the mound of blanket rolls, was a silver sword, already drawn, just waiting to be engaged.

Tansy was fast. She could sprint faster than any of the girls in her school although Mari and two other girls could beat her in long distance races. But that forty-yard length, that was what she was built for. She knew she could get a blanket roll, She knew she could reach it first, but then the question was how quickly could she get out of there? She had seen the monstrous boy from 2 wield a sword during training and she knew he would go for it. He was deadly with a blade. One misstep, and he could get there before her. And he wasn't the only one she had to worry about. With the weather like this, everyone would want a blanket. Some of the larger tributes could probably take her down with their own fists.

She knew the minute must have been almost up and she would have to decide what her strategy would be. There was a green backpack fifteen yards away that could hold anything. But it was bulging, stuffed full. She knew she could get it. The blanket roll was precarious maybe. She found herself positioning her feet to run, not away into the woods but toward the pile, toward the backpack. Suddenly she noticed Sean, three tributes to her right, a fair distance, but close enough so she can see that he's looking at her and making a kill sign.

And then the gong rang out. Despite the threat, Tansy instantly sprang forward and sprinted for the backpack. The pickings were so sparse, there was nothing in between.

Her hand had just closed around one of the straps when something sailed through the air in front of her, and she felt something warm and wet splatter onto her face. On instinct she touched a hand to the sticky liquid and pulled it away. There was something red on the tips of her fingers. Blood. She had expected that. She had not expected to see Sean's lifeless blue eyes staring up at her from the severed head lying in the snow before her. It was _his_ blood.

Tansy's mouth opened in a silent scream. She staggered back, horrified and repulsed, and fell. She quickly rolled over, slung the backpack over her shoulder, and scrambled up into a run, clutching the bag's straps to make sure it didn't fall. She didn't dare look back. She realized she could hear Pepper yelling at her from the edge of the woods and sprinted toward her friend's voice. Too much Adrenaline was shooting through Tansy to stop. She crashed through the tree line and kept going. Pepper and Root were immediately at her side. Pepper was clutching a loaf of bread and Root had a bunched up sheet of plastic. They had to keep moving. They had to put as much distance between them and the others as possible.

Before they lost sight of the clearing completely, Tansy risked a quick glance over her shoulder. About a dozen or so tributes were hacking away at one another at the horn. Several lay dead already on the ground. Those who had taken flight were disappearing into the trees like them. There was a loud splash. Someone was in the river. That was a bad move. The water must be freezing. Tansy, Pepper, and Root kept running until the woods had hidden them from the other tributes. The snow became deeper as they moved farther away from the Cornucopia. They slowed to a steady jog, maintained that pace until the trees were close enough together for them to climb from one to the next without touching the ground.

They scrambled up a tree and paused just long enough for to Root to stuff the plastic sheet in his sleeve and Pepper to wedge the loaf of bread inside her jacket before they kept going. For the next few hours they moved from tree to tree like squirrels to remain out of sight and avoid leaving prints in the snow. The cottonwoods began to mix with birches and pines and evergreens. They picked leaves and moss as they went, stuffing them in their pockets and sleeves to use for insulation against the cold. They paused only occasionally to make sure they weren't being pursued and to collect pinecones, so they could eat the nuts later.

They could go for a long time. They knew that from their days in the orchards together. Their days of gorging themselves had paid off. They had staying power even though they were all short on sleep. Their next concern was water. They could eat the snow if they had to, but kept a sharp eye out for another source, because a liquid body of water could mean fish and aquatic plants. No luck.

It was late afternoon when they began to hear the cannons. Each shot represented a dead tribute. The fighting must have finally stopped at the Cornucopia. They never collected the bloodbath bodies until the killers had dispersed. On the opening day, they didn't even fire the cannons until the initial fighting was over because it was too hard to keep track of the fatalities. Tansy and her friends allowed themselves to pause, panting as they counted the shots. One… two… three… on and on until they reach ten. Ten dead in all. Fourteen left to play. Tansy's fingernails scraped at Sean's dried blood on her face. She couldn't believe he was dead. Tansy felt sick. Watching the Games on a screen was bad enough, but experiencing the carnage up close and personal was so much worse than. Sean may not have been her favorite person, but his death had been so brutal… Maybe it was better this way. He would have killed her if given the chance and it saved her the unpleasant task of killing him. She wondered who else had lasted through the day. They would know in a few hours. When they projected the dead's images in the sky for the rest of them to see.

It suddenly hit their group of three how exhausted they were. They decided to take a break under the big evergreen they were perched in and ate some snow to rehydrate while they had at look at what was inside the backpack together. They needed to go through it anyway before night fell. See what they had to work with. Their hands were burning from the cold, so some gloves would be nice. As Tansy unhooked the straps, she could feel it was sturdily made. It was a good color, a nice, dull green that blended well with most trees. She flipped open the flap. Root and Pepper watched as Tansy carefully laid out the provisions. One thin black sleeping bag that reflected body heat. A pack of crackers. A pack of dried beef strips. A bottle of iodine. A box of waterproof matches. A roll of cord. A collapsible shovel—that could be used as a weapon as well as tool. A half-gallon plastic bottle with a cap for carrying water that was empty. A pair of gloves.

Tansy, Pepper, and Root stared with longing at that last item. Three pairs of stiff, aching hands. One set of gloves. Root tried to sign that he thought they should draw lots to decide who got them, so that it would be fair, but the girls insisted he take them, because he needed his hands and fingers to communicate. Instead, the girls removed their extra layer of socks and put them on their hands. They stuffed the socks on their hands and feet with leaves and moss to make them warmer. They were hungry, but they didn't want to break into their precious stores of crackers and beef yet. So they ate the bread, which was bound to expire faster. Since the pinecones had been green, despite the heavy snow on the ground, they tried digging with the shovel a bit to see if there might be something green under there. Jack pot. They found patches of miner's lettuce and chickweed right under their tree. At one point, they spun around in alarm when they saw movement out the corners of their eyes, thinking they might have to defend themselves, but it was just a rabbit darting back to its burrow. They were glad to see it. If there was one rabbit, there could be hundreds just waiting to be snared.

Twilight was beginning to close in, so they decided they might as well settle down for the night where they were. Since they had already started digging, they made a snow pit around the evergreen's trunk for shelter. They took turns digging and keeping lookout for danger. Looking closer at the sides of the shovel's blade, they realized one had been sharped so that it could be used to slice like a knife and the other had small serrations like a saw. They used the shovel's blades to cut boughs from another evergreen to pad the ground of their small snow pit and bent the lower boughs of their tree to cover the top and hide them without being too obvious. It was surprisingly warm inside their pit with the insulation of the snow and boughs. And if they needed more food, they could eat the inner bark on the trunk and chew on some of its sap without having to go back out into the cold. They made sure to smooth out the snow and erase all signs of their presence outside the pit.

By the time they were finished, night creatures were coming out. They could hear the occasional hoot or howl, their first clue that they would be competing with natural predators for the rabbits. As to whether they would be viewed as a source of food, it was too soon to tell. There could be any number of animals on the prowl for a two-legged meal.

But right now, they decided to make their fellow tributes a priority. They were sure many would try to continue hunting through the night. Those who fought it out at the Cornucopia would have food, an abundance of water from the river, torches or flashlights, and weapons they were itching to use. The three friends could only hope they were out of range.

They knew food would go fast out there, so they were tempted to set a snare for the rabbit. But it was risky to be setting traps. If anyone saw it, they would know another human was nearby and the last thing they wanted was to draw attention to themselves while they were hiding in a pit with only one weapon between them. The three of them settled in for the evening, sat huddled up against each other with their knees to their chests and their backs against the trunk with the sleeping bag unzipped and wrapped around the tree of them with the plastic sheet under them to keep their seats dry. They pulled their hoods on as well and cinched them so they wouldn't fall off in their sleep. As night fell, the air cooled quickly. Despite the risk she took in getting the backpack, Tansy knew it was the right choice. The sleeping bag, radiating back and preserving their body heat, would be invaluable. She was sure there were several other tributes whose biggest concern right now was how to stay warm whereas she, Pepper, and Root might actually be able to get a few hours of sleep.

Night had just come when she and Pepper heard the anthem that proceeded the death recap. They nudged Root and motioned for him to look up. Through the boughs, they could see the seal of the Capitol, which appeared to be floating in the sky. They were actually viewing a screen, and enormous one that was transported by one of their disappearing hovercraft. The anthem faded out and the sky went dark for a moment. At home, they would be watching full coverage of each and every killing, but that was thought to give an unfair advantage to the living tributes. For instance, if Tansy got her hands on a spear and used it to kill someone, her secret would be revealed to all. No, here in the arena, all they saw were the same photographs they showed when they televised their training scores. Simple headshots. But now instead of scores they posted only district numbers. Tansy took a deep breath as the faces of the ten dead tributes began and Root ticked them off one by one on his gloved fingers.

The first to appear was the eccentric boy from District 3. That meant that the Career Tributes from 1 and 2 had all survived. No surprise there. Next was Sean. Pepper and Root leaned their heads against hers and rubbed her arms under their covers to comfort her. Tansy may not have liked Sean very much, but witnessing his early death had been a gruesome shock. Both tributes from District 5. They girl from 6. The boy from 7… Tansy wasn't too surprised the small and sassy girl managed to survive. The girl from 8. The boy from 9. The girl from 10. The boy from 12… the limping girl must have made it. That was it. The Capitol seal was back with a final musical flourish. Then darkness and the sounds of the forest resumed.

Ten dead. Only one day and already nearly half of them had been eliminated. Tansy, Pepper, and Root tried to work out who was left. Four Careers. The girl from 3. The boy from 6. The girl from 7. The boy from 8. The girl from 9. The boy from 10. The girl from 12. That made fourteen of them. But their numbers were bound to drop along with the temperature. Tansy and her friends were lucky enough to have the heat of three bodies to share, and the Careers no doubt had the Cornucopia and most of the supplies. They had probably formed a pack, too. Anyone on their own, without shelter, would most likely die from exposure by morning. Even in their pit with their combined warmth, Tansy, Pepper, and Root were tempted to light a fire. But they knew that was a bad idea while the other tributes were on the prowl. Instead, they set shifts. One person would stay awake while the others slept. Then they would wake the others and they would all wiggle around a bit and massage their limbs, hands, and feet to keep their blood flowing. Then the next person would keep watch while the others slept, and so on.

Finnick didn't allow himself to relax until the last Career fell asleep. He and Mags had been on edge ever since they saw Tansy dart for that backpack against their instructions. She had narrowly missed being hit by an arrow fired by the boy from 1 a knife thrown by the girl from 2 as she ran away. But considering the climate in the arena, it had been a risk worth taking. According to Templesmith, the temperature was expected to drop to thirty degrees below freezing. It was a shame about Sean. But at least now Tansy wouldn't have to worry about him coming after her. The moment Slate, the boy from 2, got his hands on the sword, it was over. When heads started flying, it didn't take long for the remaining tributes to scatter. The boy from 6 had made an unfortunate decision to try to cross the river while the others ran for the woods and ended up with a knife in his back. Without dry clothes or a blanket, he probably would have gotten frostbite or died of hypothermia anyway. He had been tempted to send Tansy some gloves when he saw her hands, but Mags reminded him they had agreed not to send her food or anything else she could provide for herself. He was proud of Tansy. She was a lot more resourceful in the wild than he had been at her age.

Back in the arena, the group of three hiding in the snow pit managed to get through the whole night without encountering any danger. Tansy had the last watch. The sky was still dark, but she could see the first signs of dawn approaching. Just as dawn began to break and bird song filled the air, Pepper and Root were startled awake by the boom of a cannon. Suddenly, the birds fell silent. It was so eerie, they couldn't help poking their heads out of the pit just enough to see what could have caused it. Ten yards to their left, a hovercraft materialized. A set of large metal teeth dropped down. Slowly, gently, the body of the dead tribute was lifted into the hovercraft. It was too far for them to tell who. Then the hovercraft vanished. The birds resumed their song.

They waited, strained their eyes and ears for any signs of danger. Nothing. The only thing stirring was the birds. When they were certain the coast was clear, they packed up their gear, crawled out of their pit. They found the rabbit's burrow, circled it until they found all the exits, and worked together to flush it out. The moment it tried to flee, Root's hands closed around its soft body. While he held it down, Tansy trussed it up so they could take it with them. They planned to keep it alive until they had proper a knife to skin it with. They kept walking for a while, stopping every now and then to forage. They filled their pockets with wild spinach, elderberries, biscuitroot and burdock roots, bindweed. They paused to hydrate and ate some snow and the spinach. They gave a little to the rabbit. Then they filled the water bottle with snow.

They weren't wandering around randomly. They stopped when they reached a large outcrop of red rock to search for stones that could be used to make some primitive weapons. The best rocks for making knives were usually found in rivers, but that was too near the Careers. They were lucky. The lighter bands in the red stone was actually chert, and they found two decent sized chunks of it, which they chipped into rough blades. There was also a heavy red stone the size of a fist.

Then they found a cottonwood tree with some straight branches. They sawed one long branch off to make a spear shaft. A short piece to make a knife handle. A medium piece to make a hammer handle. They still needed two more ingredients before they could finish their new weapons, so Tansy wrapped one of the stone blades with cord for a temporary handle.

They gathered wood and made a Dakota fire hole behind the cover of the outcrop. They were very careful not to add anything that would smoke. They snapped the rabbit's neck, laid it out on the flattest rock, skinned it, and gutted it for cooking using the stone knife. But first, they removed the sinew and laid it out in the sun to dry. While Pepper cooked the rabbit, stuffed with elderberries and cleaned biscuitroot and burdock roots, Tansy and Root collected the inner bark of the cottonwood tree and a pine and added it to their stores.

The rabbit was delicious. The roots were soft and tender from being steamed inside its body. After their meal, Tansy checked the sinew. It hadn't finished drying yet, so they enjoyed the fire for a little longer.

When the sinew was dry, she used the roundest stone they could find to pound the sinew into thinner fibers. While she did that, Root used the bladed shovel to make cuts in the cottonwood they collected for weapon handles. Then he and Pepper took the shovel and collected dried pinesap from an injured tree. Tansy chewed on the sinew fibers a little to soften them and wrapped them around the blades and the sticks to secure them in place. She laid them out to dry in the sun. Then she scraped the inside of the rabbit's skull clean and scrubbed it with snow. She warmed her hands while Pepper hooked a stick through its empty eye socket. Root used another stick to retrieve some of the softwood charcoal from the fire. He ground it into a fine powder and they used the skull as a little pot to melt the pinesap over the fire. When the sap was liquid, they added the charcoal powder. They stirred the mixture with a stick until the charcoal was distributed evenly to make pine pitch. Then they used a leaf to spread the pitch carefully over the sinew. Once the pitch dried, they would have a completed knife, spear, and hammer. They may not hold up in a direct clash against metal weapons, but they would at least work on animals and they were better than nothing. They used the hammer on the pinecones and harvested the seeds, pocketing them for later.

Since they had made a lot of noise, they figured they should move on. They put out the fire and filled the bottle with more snow. They all tensed and ducked for cover at the sound of another cannon. They waited, held their breath, listened for the silence that preceded the arrival of a hovercraft. The birds kept singing and twittering away. After a few minutes, they realized the death must have happened farther away. They exhaled the breaths they were holding and prepared to move on.

Making the weapons had taken most of the day, so they tucked their weapons away and took to the trees again. It was a bit awkward for Tansy with the spear, but she managed. They could tell it would be another freezing night, so they began looking for another good spot for a snow pit.

They found a lovely evergreen and finished making their shelter just before twilight. They used the last of the light to forage again and retrieved three eggs from a nest they had found on their way. They erased all signs of their presence on the way back and settled in for the evening with a meal of eggs, tree bark, bindweed, and miner's lettuce. They treated the melted snow in their water bottle, drank it, and refilled it with more snow from the side of their pit.

Night fell and they heard the anthem that preceded the death recap again. They peaked between the boughs and waited to see who the cannon they heard earlier had been for. The girl from 3. The boy from 6. Again, Tansy, Pepper, and Root counted who was left. Four Careers. The girl from 7. The boy from 8. The girl from 9. The boy from 10. The girl from 12. There were twelve of them now. They set watches again. The second night proved just as uneventful as the first. Their little group of three was grateful for that. The Gamemakers were not.

The sun had just begun to rise when Tansy found herself being shaken awake by Root and Pepper. She was startled when she saw why. Deer, rabbits, birds, every animal in the woods seemed to be fleeing in the same direction all at once. That was never a good sign. Animals only acted like that during a disaster. They immediately grabbed their weapons and gear, and scrambled out of the pit, stuffing their stuff back in the bag as they ran from some unseen danger. Whatever it was, they weren't about to wait around to find out.

A cannon. Tansy, Pepper, and Root looked around, making sure they were all still together. They were. All present and accounted for. It wasn't for one of them.

They followed the animals, leaping over fallen logs and red rocks breaking through the snow. They heard creaking and cracking sounds and risked a quick glance over their shoulders. Their eyes widened in fear. They started sprinting with all their might. Everything behind them was frozen solid, coated in a layer of ice and frost. An injured deer, now dead, was still poised mid-run. Falling behind meant death. They could feel an icy chill on their backs through the jackets. They pushed themselves until their legs burned and every muscle screamed. When Pepper stumbled, Tansy and Root grabbed her and swung her back onto her feet without a pause. They didn't stop until a minute or so after the animals had. They stood there, waiting, panting, gasping for air. The backs of their jackets were dusted with frost. They had made it, but only just. They watched the animals disperse. Many of them went back the way they had come. The danger had passed.

Tansy, Pepper, and Root took a moment to collect themselves and hydrate. They realized they had come dangerously close to the river. They could see it sparkling in the sunlight through the trees. But they were a still a fair distance away from the Cornucopia. They were reluctant to return to the frozen part of the woods after such a narrow escape, so they only retreated a little further into the woods and followed the river downstream to put a more comfortable distance between them and the Careers. They were tired and their pace was slow, but they made sure to keep quiet. Their muscles were sore, and they didn't have the strength to climb.

They spent the rest of the day foraging and trying to recover without staying in one place for too long. As they walked, Tansy noticed the river didn't appear to be that deep. It was very shallow after the beaver dam. They collected a whole cluster of cattails, elderberries, and sorrel. They moved deeper into the woods. They stopped and ate a lunch of pine nuts, cattail stocks, and sorrel.

They couldn't make themselves go on, so they decided to turn in early and made a snow pit around the first evergreen they found. They were so exhausted, they all dropped off as soon as they were tucked in.

When he saw the shape they were in, Finnick sprang into action. It was obvious Tansy and her friends had pushed their bodies to the limit escaping that cold snap. If she couldn't run or fight, she was dead. While Mags selected the best remedy for fatigue and muscle pain from the gift menu, he went out to secure funding.

Something awoke Tansy. First, she realized it was darker. They had slept till twilight. Then she heard the voices. Tansy tensed. Quickly and quietly she roused Root and Pepper in case they needed to fight or flee.

"The tracks stop here." It sounded like the girl from 1.

"Damn!" the boy from 2 cursed, kicking a nearby tree. "Why does this keep happening?"

"Yeah, how hard can it be to find one person?" asked the girl from 2. "I want to hurry up and kill her already." It sounded like they were looking for someone specific.

"It's not just one person, it's three," said the boy from 1.

"Whatever," said the boy from 2. He stopped a foot away from their pit. "That other guy from 4 was so easy to kill, I thought we'd have got her by now."

Tansy's blood ran cold. Her. They were looking for her. No, they were _hunting_ her.

The girl from 2 laughed. "Yeah, remember the look on his face when you turned on him? That was priceless! I can't believe he thought we'd let him join us."

"Right?" the boy from 1 agreed.

"It was a good idea to kill off anyone with a ten," said the girl from 1. "If that little girl can give us this much trouble, can you imagine how hard that guy would've been to deal with?"

"Don't give her so much credit," the boy from 2 said. "Ugh! Come on, she's not worth it. Let's head back to base. It's too cold to hunt at night."

Tansy, Pepper, and Root waited with batted breath and didn't relax until their voices had faded from earshot. Even then they didn't dare use their own.

Tansy removed the socks on her hands and signed, "They were looking for me. I should leave. I'm putting you in danger."

Pepper ripped off her socks, too, while Root signed several hurried objections. "Don't be stupid," Pepper signed. "We're in no more danger than anyone else in these games. You remember the day we got the scars on our backs, Tansy? You didn't abandon us then and we're not going to abandon you now."

"That's right!" Root signed in agreement.

"You guys… You're the best," Tansy signed, deeply touched. The three friends wrapped their arms around each other in a tight hug.

Since they hadn't had anything to eat or drink since noon, they ate the elderberries and some bark from their tree. Then they drank all their water and refilled it with more snow.

They peered through the boughs concealing their shelter when they heard the anthem play. It was the girl from 12 today. They wondered if it was the Careers or the ice that got her. Four Careers. The girl from 7. The boy from 8. The girl from 9. The boy from 10. There were eleven of them left now.

They set watches and tried to get some more sleep.

Once again, Tansy found herself being shaken awake at dawn. But unlike the last surprise, this one proved to be pleasant. A silver parachute with a tube attached to it had fallen right on top of their pit while she was asleep. It was their first gift from a sponsor. They were all painfully stiff, so moving was difficult. But when they had retrieved the gift and opened the tube, they saw that it was some kind of ointment. The smell was pungent and they figured it must be some kind of medicine. Any kind of medicine was expensive, so it must have been sent by Finnick and Mags. Tansy tested the ointment by rolling up her sleeve and rubbing a patch of it on her arm. The relief was instant. She had to stifle a moan of pleasure. It was as if all the pain in that part of her arm had been erased.

"Thank you!" Tansy said softly, hoping her mentors and sponsors could hear and see how grateful she was for the gift.

They checked to make sure it was safe to come out and scrambled clumsily from the pit so they could have more room.

Despite the cold, all three of them stripped down to their underwear and rubbed themselves and each other down with ointment until it had been completely absorbed by the skin. Applying the ointment erased not only their pain but their fatigue. They pulled their clothes back on, completely refreshed and rejuvenated. There was still some left in the tube, so they put it in the backpack. Tansy felt so good, she did a cartwheel.

With renewed energy and determination, their group of three went foraging for breakfast. They were perched in a tree, eating elderberries and eggs, when they realized the air felt warmer than usual. This trend continued as they moved on.

At first, they thought it might have been because the medicine had improved their circulation, but then they noticed the snow in their water bottle was melting faster. The weather was warming up. That was good. But it was also bad. If all the snow on the ground melted, their primary source of water would be gone. Since they hadn't found any other sources that just left the river, which was dangerous because the Careers seemed to be sticking close to it. Then Tansy had an idea.

Maybe there was another source of water on the other side of the valley. They could wait for the cover of night, then take off their shoes and socks, roll up their pants, and cross the river. The water would still be freezing but if they did it now, before the river swelled with water from the melted snow, they could cross without getting more than their feet wet. And if they could avoid being seen, it would give them a period of grace before the Careers realized what they had done.

Pepper and Root agreed, and they made a plan. They spent the first half of the day foraging, eating and collecting as much food as possible, since they didn't know what they would find on the other side. Hydrated more often and kept the water bottle filled to the top. After lunch, they very cautiously made their way back to the beaver dam, traveling through the trees.

They reached their destination near twilight. They waited in the trees near the edge for darkness to fall and for the Careers to leave the Cornucopia. Then Tansy, Pepper, and Root silently slipped down to the ground. They removed their socks and shoes, rolled up their pants, and crossed the snow into the water. Both were so cold it was painful, but they grit their tear and bore it, moving through the water as quietly as possible.

The minute they reached the opposite bank of the river, they hopped past the edge of the trees, dried their feet off as best they could, and pulled their socks back on. They sat there for a few minutes, rubbing the warmth back into their feet, before putting their shoes back on. Then they climbed and traveled through the trees again, just in case the Careers discovered their tracks in the snow on the other side and put two and two together.

A cannon. The Careers were still hunting on the other side.

Since the snow was melting and it wasn't as cold that night, they focused on finding a water source rather than sleep. They drank their water as needed until they were on their last bottle of snow. It was heating up rapidly.

Snow turned to mud. By dawn, they were beginning to worry. Until they spotted the sheep tracks. Where there were animals, there was bound to be water. They followed the tracks all the way to what had appeared to be a solid wall of red rock from a distance. Up close they could now see it was the entrance to a hidden canyon. This seemed promising, so they continued to follow the tracks through a winding passage. What they found was a beautiful emerald pool surrounded by big-horned sheep, various plants, and a solitary tree. A source for water and food rolled into one.

Before the animals noticed them, Tansy reached for her weapon and speared a ram in the side. The other sheep were startled and took off deeper into the canyon. But they would be back, eventually.

Finnick smiled as he watched her on the screen. He had been concerned when Tansy said she wanted to ally with Pepper and Root, but so far it seemed to be working in her favor. Tansy had good friends. He dreaded what would happen if it came down to the three of them, but for now he was just glad she wasn't alone against the Career pack.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's note: I keep forgetting to say this, but someone asked me a while ago who I pictured portraying Tansy. The answer is Jasmine Sanders. If you google her, she's very beautiful. Movie-wise this story would have happened in 2008, four years before the first Hunger Games movie. I picture her playing Tansy at that time from the age of 14 and on.

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Strange Fruit**

* * *

Tansy prepared the ram for cooking. Pepper collected more water. Root gathered wood for a fire. Tansy was in the middle of gutting the ram when she heard Pepper's cry of distress. She whipped around to see what was wrong. Tansy froze, eyes wide with fear.

Behind Root, who had leaned down to pick up another stick, a mountain lion was poised to attack. Drawn by the smell of blood. Pepper and Tansy were horrified. Even if they called out to Root, he wouldn't hear. Any sudden movements might set the beast off. He stood up.

The beast pounced. Root cried out in alarm. Pepper screamed. Tansy hurled her spear.

She killed the mountain lion but she wasn't fast enough to save Root from its claws. The girls ran over and rolled the beast's heavy body off of him. Pepper applied pressure to the wounds. Tansy retrieved the cord and the plantain leaves they collected yesterday from the backpack. They removed Root's jacket and the layers underneath, and washed the deep slashes on Root's back with clean water. They crushed the plantain leaves in their hands, applied them to the wounds, then removed their jackets and shirts, folded the shirts in half, and tied them over his treated wounds as a bandages with the cord.

The girls put their jackets back on and made it their business to make sure nothing else was about to jump out at them. While Pepper guarded Root with the knife and shovel, Tansy took her spear and searched the surrounding area. She found the mountain lion's tracks and traced them up a ledge jutting out of the rocky walls of the canyon. She found the small opening for the cave that had been its den. As far as she could tell it had been alone. She climbed back down the ledge and checked around the water and a little deeper into the canyon for more tracks. There were some by the water but none farther in. It looked like that mountain lion had been the only one in the area. They were safe, for now.

Pepper was too distraught to leave Root, so she stayed with her brother while Tansy looked for more medicinal herbs. Venturing farther into the canyon, she found a few yucca plants, and Manzanita berries. And that was it. After a certain point there was just dirt and rock. Tansy left quickly. She didn't like that part of the canyon. Even the smallest sound made a large echo and it was very difficult to find the original source with the way it bounced around. It was eerie and uncanny.

She left the berries with Pepper, who had calmed down enough to finish gutting the ram so it could be cooked before it spoiled. Somewhat reassured by this, Tansy continued her hunt for herbs in the woods outside the canyon. When she returned with more plantain and firewood, Pepper asked her to gather materials to make a shelter while she cooked. The mountain lion's den would have been good, but there was no way they could drag root all the way up there.

Tansy made several trips to get everything they needed for the shelter, filling her pockets with anything edible that she found along the way. She stopped to eat when the meat finished cooking. They set some aside for Root. He had passed out but he would be hungry when he woke up. Their shirts were soaked through with blood. It was clear he needed more help than their limited resources would allow.

They were about to remove another layer of clothing for more bandages, when another silver parachute floated down to them with a plastic red box. They opened it. It was a first aid kit. The girls were ecstatic. It must have cost a fortune. They quickly thanked Finnick, Mags, and everyone who had contributed to the purchase of such an extravagant gift. They immediately went to work on Root's back. They removed their makeshift bandages and cleaned his wounds again with water and an antiseptic. Then they applied a powder that was supposed to help stop the bleeding. They stitched him up and applied a healing ointment. It was a good thing Root had passed out, or it would have been hard to hold him still for all of it. They thanked everyone again.

By the time they finished caring for Root, twilight was upon them. So Tansy and Pepper set up the shelter. They used thick branches, the plastic sheet, leaves and other debris to make a lean-to around Root, making sure there would be space for them, too. They ate a dinner of raspberries, wild spinach, elderberries, miner's lettuce, and dandelions.

Root regained consciousness just as night fell and the anthem started to play. They waited. The face of the girl from 9 shined in the sky. Four Careers. The girl from 7. They boy from 8. The boy from 10. Now there were ten of them. Tansy and Pepper gently rolled Root onto his side and helped him eat some meat and berries.

"We should do something about the mountain lion." Tansy said after a while. They had left the corpse alone after they rolled it away from Root. Now it was just sitting there. Root and Pepper agreed. It would be such a waste to let all that meat rot.

The lion was already close to the tree, so they rolled it closer and used the cord to hoist the heavy beast up over the thickest branch. Tansy wove a watertight basket from yucca plant fronds, and they put it under the lion. Then they slit its throat and left it hanging there for the blood to drain out. Meanwhile, Tansy wove some more watertight baskets from yucca plant fronds. She and Pepper washed the blood from their shirts and the cord in the baskets using the natural soap found in the roots to clean them. They hung them on the tree's other branches to dry overnight. Then the girls moved the blood basket and let the lion down. They skinned it and prepared the meat for cooking. Since they knew there was no way they could eat it all at once, they set the majority of it up to smoke and dry as jerky. They took the hide and scraped it clean with the shovel. Then they rubbed its brains on the skin side of the hide and soaked it in a basket of water for a bit with a heated rock underneath to keep it warm. They wrung the wet hide out as tight as they could manage and pulled it back and forth around the trunk of the tree, working the hide until it was dry. Then they set it up to be smoked alongside the jerky. When it was done, they would have a fur hide to lay on the floor of their shelter.

They took turns keeping watch through the rest of the night while Root slept. They kept their weapons close. No predators, human or animal, came for them that night.

The sheep returned to their watering hole after dawn. For a while, Tansy and Pepper were content to just sit there and watch. They didn't seem to be very bright. For one thing, a few of the males butted heads with each other every now and then, but they couldn't have cared less that the humans who had invaded their territory were still there. A couple of lambs even started playing near their shelter, despite the fact that Tansy had killed one of their flock yesterday. Their company was oddly comforting. For once, something in the arena wasn't trying to kill them.

The girls decided to leave the sheep alone for the moment. They had plenty of mountain lion jerky. They also had plenty of stores from the previous day. They knew this side of the river had a full bounty of edibles from all the plants they had spotted during their search for water. So they decided to take a day to rest and catch up on their sleep. They checked Root's wounds. So far so good. The medicine from the Capitol was working wonders. It had really saved his life. Without it, Root would have probably bled out last night. They washed the wounds carefully and applied fresh ointment and new bandages.

For the rest of the day, they rested. The three of them took turns guarding the campsite and keeping an eye out for other tributes and predators. It was a blissfully uneventful day for them. Most of their time was spent looking at sheep and watching the clouds. It was entertaining to watch the sheep climb the rock walls using only the smallest nooks and crannies for foot holds. They didn't hear the cannon once.

Tansy, Pepper, and Root finished most of the greens off at dinner, but they kept some elderberries aside for breakfast. Tansy volunteered to go foraging again in the morning.

It was quiet that night without the anthem. Tansy, Pepper, and Root gazed at the stars, pointing out different constellations to each other. They reminisced, going over old stories, sharing some new ones they hadn't gotten around to before the end of their training. Tansy shared an amusing anecdote about one of her favorite fishmongers. She changed the names to protect the innocent and the guilty but it went something like this:

"A customer at the fishmonger's shop marveled at the owner's quick wit and intelligence.

'Tell me, Simon, what makes you so smart?'

'I wouldn't share my secret with just anyone, 'Simon replies, lowering his voice so the other shoppers won't hear.' But since you're a good and faithful customer, I'll let you in on it. Fish heads. You eat enough of them, you'll be positively brilliant.'

'You sell them here?' the customer asks.

'Only $4 apiece', says Simon.

The customer buys three. A week later, he's back in the store complaining that the fish heads were disgusting and he isn't any smarter.

'You didn't eat enough, 'says Simon. The customer goes home with 20 more fish heads. Two weeks later, he's back and this time he's really angry.

'Hey, Simon, 'he complains, 'you're selling me fish heads for $4 a piece when I can buy the whole fish for $2. you're ripping me off!'

'You see?' says Simon, 'you're smarter already,'" Tansy finished with a grin.

Pepper and Root cracked up at that. She was rolling around and he was clutching his sides, trying not ruin his stiches by laughing too hard.

"It feels like I haven't laughed in ages," said Pepper.

Root nodded in agreement. "I feel a lot better now," he signed.

Pepper smiled. "Mrs. Mamie always says laughter's the best medicine."

"Yeah," Tansy said, smiling too. "My dad says the two best cures for anything are a good laugh and long sleep."

"You're dad sounds like a smart man," Root signed.

"Pretty much," Tansy agreed with a modest shrug, though she beamed brightly because she was proud.

In the Games Headquarters Mags nodded off next to Finnick as Pepper and Root asked about Annie again. They liked hearing stories about her and Tansy's father. And Tansy enjoyed sharing them with her friends. She was so open and unafraid with them. Talking with Pepper and Root was easy and fun for her. The complete opposite of her time on stage with Caesar Flickerman. Those bright smiles. The way her eyes sparkled. Finnick had never seen her that way before. Maybe once, from a distance, when he spotted her talking to Annie before they spotted him.

Finnick realized he was a little jealous. He was used to people not liking him because of the persona he had adopted in order to survive in the Capitol. But this was something different. Tansy had come to like him, he thought, she was just naturally a very private and reserved person. That should have been enough. But he wanted more. He wondered if it was because of how long Tansy had known them. She had lived in District 11 for eight years before coming to 4. He hoped it wasn't going to take another eight for her to smile at him like that.

More than anything, he hoped she had another eight. He and Mags had blown a fortune on that first aid kit because they knew it was what Tansy would have wanted. But he had mainly agreed because he knew that if one of those siblings died, there would be nothing left to hold the other back from becoming the victor, because they would no longer have to choose between each other. And the more he watched them interact, the more obvious it became that Tansy was never going to kill those two.

The next morning, after a breakfast of jerky and the last of their greens, The three friends decided it was time to replenish their supplies. While Pepper stayed behind with the knife and hammer and took care of Root, Tansy took the spear and shovel and went out to hunt and gather outside the canyon. She wiped the sweat from her brow, removed her jacket, and tied it around her waist. It felt like summer again. Unbelievably warm after all that snow and ice. She continued on, foraging around the ground before climbing up to the trees in search of pinecones and eggs. She found plenty of pinecones, but no eggs. Instead she found something dangerous. A wasp nest.

Fear shot through her, but she had enough sense to keep still. After all, she was very familiar with the kind that lived in this particular nest. Tracker jackers. These killer wasps had been spawned in a lab and strategically placed, like mines, around the districts during the war. Larger than regular wasps, they had a distinct solid gold body and a sting that raised a lump the size of a plum on contact. Most people couldn't tolerate more than a few stings. Some died at once. If you lived, the hallucinations brought on by the venom had actually driven people to madness. And there was another thing, these wasps would hunt down anyone who disturbed their nest and attempt to kill them. That's where the tracker part of their name came from.

After the war, the Capitol destroyed all the nests surrounding their city, but the ones near the districts were left untouched. Another reminder of their weakness, she supposed, just like the Hunger Games. Another reason to stay inside the fences. But in District 11, tracker jackers had been inside the fence, too. Their nests were often found in the trees of the orchards. When that happened, the workers would use smoke to sedate the tracker jackers inside and they were given a box with an opening that could be locked and sealed around the branch. The branch with the contained nest would then be trimmed from the tree, and the whole thing would be taken away to be destroyed. Tansy and Pepper had even participated in this process a couple of times before. But if the nest was found anywhere outside the fields and orchards, they were pretty much on their own. As a result, the people of District 11 had become adept at handling the dangerous pests and treating their stings themselves.

Very carefully, Tansy retreated from the buzzing nest and silently slithered back down the tree. Then, as gently as possible, she scratched a mark on the tree to remind her to stay away. She added the leaves of the herb they would need to treat their stings to her list of things to collect. Plantain. They had been mostly just eating it here because it was edible but back in 11 it was primarily used as a medicinal herb. Not only could it speed up the healing process for wounds, but it was great for drawing out infections and wasp venom. She hoped she could find some on this side of the river. You could never be too careful with tracker jackers.

She moved on and found all sorts of goodies. Like an elderberry shrub growing next to a birch. She decided to saw off a section from one of the thickest stems and removed the soft pith in the center. Then she went and collected some cattails that were still with the edge of the trees near the river. The Careers didn't appear to be home, but why take the risk of revealing herself? She wove the cattail rushes into another watertight basket. She found a stick from a tree with harder wood, sharpened it, went back to the birch, and used it to drill a hole into its trunk. She tapped the hollow elderberry stem into the hole with the shovel and waited. Success! When the sap started flowing, she used the basket to collect it.

She returned to their base by the water for lunch. While the three of them chewed on some homemade jerky dipped in birch sap, she laid out everything else that she had found for her friends to see. Parts to make a fire drill. Raspberries. Wild spinach. Blue mustard. Bindweed. Miner's lettuce. Pinecones. Cattail stocks. Birch and pine bark. Plantain.

"We need to start saving theses. I found a nest of tracker jackers," Tansy explained, putting the plantain leaves aside to be added to the first aid kit. Root and Pepper paled at the news. They had all seen firsthand what could happen to anyone unlucky enough to be stung. The grotesque swelling. The screams. The seizures. It was nightmare material.

After lunch they checked Root's wound. He still had some difficulty moving but it was healing at an incredible pace. They cleaned it, applied fresh ointment, and new bandages.

They spent the following hours relaxing and napping. Tansy and Pepper even played with the sheep. They would take what peace they could get in this place. For a few minutes, they managed to forget they were in the arena.

Then they heard the cannon. Someone had died again. That sobered them up fast. They were quiet for the rest of the day. Tansy went out to set some snares using the cord before it got dark.

Twilight came, and they ate more jerky and finished off the birch sap. Since food was plentiful on this side of the river, they had a small feast. They were polishing off the last of the berries when night fell and the anthem came on, and they played the death recap. This time it was the boy from 8. Four careers. The girl from 7. The boy from 10. Nine left.

They sat there in silence until Tansy spoke again. "It's only a matter of time," she said. "Before they find us. Once everyone else over there is dead, sooner or later they'll realize they have to look for us over here."

"There isn't really anything we can do about that," Pepper said somberly. Root remained silent.

Tansy bit her lip. "We could set a trap," she suggested. Her friends looked at her, surprised. "I didn't really want to suggest this… But if we try to fight against them directly, we'll probably lose. We need a way to defeat them from a distance," she explained. If they set the trap and no one came, then no harm no foul. But she needed to protect her friends.

Pepper and Root exchanged a look. Root nodded.

"What did you have in mind?" Pepper asked.

Since it was dangerous to do that kind of work in the dark, they waited for the next day and started early in the morning. Root's job was to continue focusing on recovering from his wounds while Tansy and Pepper set up several foot traps deeper in the canyon. If the Careers came, they would run to their designated hiding spots in there and use the echoes to confuse the enemy and draw them into the trap. The foot traps were designed to lead them to the main trap. A landmine of deadly wasps.

Using a foot-long piece of bark off a dead birch tree, wrapped around dried grasses, leaves, and bark, Tansy and Pepper made a long match to carry a piece of hot coal over to the tree with the tracker jacker nest. With great care, the girls added a few green leaves to create smoke and waited as it floated up to envelope the nest above them. They waited for the buzzing to slow and then they started climbing. Tansy climbed the tree with the nest. Pepper climbed the one that was right next to it and had a sturdy branch that extended far enough to be side by side with the branch Pepper and the nest were on. While Tansy continued to blow more smoke at the nest, Pepper cautiously wrapped their sheet of plastic around it. They doubted it would be enough to stop a swarm of angry tracker jackers if they woke up, but it should help muffle their scent and keep the smoke from dissipating too soon. Pepper held the plastic closed around the branch while Tansy sawed it free from the tree as quickly and quietly as possible to avoid disturbing the nest. When she was done, Tansy quickly hopped down and rushed over to meet Pepper, who began to ease her way down her own tree with the sedated nest just far enough to hand it over to Tansy. Then Pepper hopped down, too, and they made their way back to the canyon slowly, handling the nest as if it were a bomb that could explode at the slightest jostle. Their skin was slick with sweat. What they were doing was extremely dangerous. One false move, and they could wake the wasps. They paused periodically to fan more smoke into the plastic when the buzzing sounded like it was getting louder again. They crept into the canyon. Through their camp. Around the foot traps. They stopped when they reached the biggest one, which stretched across the whole path from wall to wall but was just narrow enough to jump over. Pepper jumped first. Tansy carefully handed the nest over to her, then she followed. They held their breath as they removed the plastic and buried the nest gently in the shallow hole they had dug in the spot where they expected at least one of the Careers to land. They covered the hole with a mat that Tansy wove in a pattern that allowed for a few air holes. The mat had been smeared with red clay to blend in with the ground. They wanted to conceal the tracker jackers not smother them. The girls added a light and even sprinkling of dirt over it. They stood up and looked down at their work. At a glance, it looked like solid, undisturbed ground. The rest of the traps had been covered, too. But they were only camouflaged just enough for others to still be able to spot them without making their true intentions too obvious. Tansy and Pepper put out the long match and started moving. They wanted to return to their camp before the smoke wore off. They were just negotiating their way around the last (or first) foot trap when they heard the scream. It was Root.

Pepper and Tansy took off a like a shot. All they had on them were the stone knife and the shovel. Tansy had left her spear at the camp. They braced themselves but the scene they came upon was so much worse than they had imagined. Root was still screaming—or trying to. Only he couldn't, because the boy from 1 had used a rope to haul him up over the strongest branch of the tree. With a noose around his neck. Their brother and friend's face was contorted in fear and pain. The girl from 2 was carving the skin over his ribs with her knife with a twisted delight.

Now Pepper was screaming. Tansy felt something snap inside of her. Without hesitating, without blinking an eye, she lunged at them. She felt a small rush of air from something flying over her shoulder and past her neck. The girl from 2 let out a strangled cry of pain and surprise. She fell and Tansy was right on top of the boy from 1. Tansy hit him with the shovel. She swung at his head with all her might. She watched the side of his head cave in with hollow eyes as part of his ear was sliced off. There was blood on her face again.

The girl from 2 was shouting something at them, scrambling backward as she stumbled back onto her feet to run. Blood stained her shirt where Pepper's knife was stuck in her shoulder. Tansy moved to follow her but stopped when Pepper grabbed the back of her shirt.

"Tansy! Help me!" Pepper cried desperately. "Root isn't breathing!"

The sight of her friend's tears and the stab of fear she felt with those words brought Tansy crashing back to herself. Pepper was struggling with all her might to keep her brother lifted up in an attempt to loosen the slack on the noose. Tansy let the girl from 2 get away so she could help Pepper save Root. Her friends' lives were more important.

Tansy quickly dropped the shovel and grabbed the rope to loosen the knot enough to slide it up and over Root's head. Pepper stumbled under the full weight of her brother's larger body and the two siblings fell to the ground together.

"He's still not breathing!" Pepper screamed, becoming hysterical.

Tansy immediately kneeled down beside them, prepared to give Root rescue breathing. But then she saw his condition. Tansy froze. A cold dread crept over her. His eyes were open wide, still bulging from fear and the pressure of the rope on his throat. Which was crushed. His neck was distended and bent at a slight angle. Tansy realized the snap she heard wasn't in her mind. It had been the sound of Root's neck breaking. They were too late to save him. No words would ever be adequate enough to describe the pain of all the horror and guilt she felt. Tansy's stomach dropped. Bile rose up her throat. She had to clap both hands over her mouth to keep from throwing up.

Pepper, who had been in shock or denial about her brother's condition, finally looked at her silent friend. Two long overdue cannons were fired. One for the boy from 1. One for Root. And then she knew. No one could save him now. Her brother was gone. Her lips trembled. Tears welled up in her eyes. And then the most heart-rending scream that anyone in the Capitol had ever heard echoed throughout the arena. She threw herself on top of Root, clutching his body in a desperate attempt to keep them from taking him from her.

Tansy's own tears flowed as she watched. Her heart was breaking at the sight. At the loss of her childhood friend. She felt like a lost child again. The same helpless eight-year-old who couldn't save her own mother.

But Tansy wasn't eight any more. She wasn't helpless. And she knew this wasn't over. She still had to protect Pepper. Tansy swallowed the bile that had filled her mouth and forced herself to stand.

"Get up," she said, fighting to keep her voice even. Pepper kept crying. Her face was buried against her brother's chest. "Get up, Pepper," she said again. Her voice was firm but gentle. "We can mourn him later. I promise you can cry all you want then. But there's no time for that now. We have to fight back. They killed Root, and they'll be back for us next. We've killed one of them. There's no way the Careers will leave us alone. As long as they're alive, we'll never be safe."

Pepper stopped crying. Without looking up, she asked, "Are we going to kill them, Tansy?"

Tansy was very grim as she answered. "We are."

Pepper finally raised her head. Her cheeks were stained with tears. Her eyes were red and angry, filled with a demand for vengeance. "Good."

The Careers hadn't just killed Root. They had tortured him. And they had enjoyed doing it. They were unforgiveable.

Without another word, the two girls worked together to move Root's body somewhere safe, hiding it amongst some of the brush growing by the water. Then they hoisted the corpse of the boy from 1 up high enough to slip the noose over his head. They would leave him there for the other Careers to find. Tansy, Pepper, and Root had all gone into the Games thinking that whatever happened, none of it was personal. As tributes, they were all simply fighting to survive. But now it was personal. They wanted the Careers to know that. That everything that happened would be the result of their own cruelty.

The girls washed the blood from their hands. They stripped down to their underwear and hid their clothing. They smeared their bodies and their hair and their underwear with red clay and mud until they blended in with the walls of the canyon completely. They entered the echoing part of the canyon, concealed themselves among the shadows of the rocks, and waited.

They heard a scream at twilight. It was the girl from 1. The Careers had entered the canyon and found the hanged body of the boy from one. The boy from 2 shouted something in anger. It was time. Together, Tansy and Pepper began to sing an ancient song from 11. It was from a time long before the rise of Panem but more relevant that ever. A song about injustice and oppression. It was haunting and eerie, full of disturbing imagery.

 _Southern trees bear a strange fruit_  
 _Blood on the leaves and blood at the root_  
 _Black bodies swingin' in the Southern breeze_  
 _Strange fruit hangin' from the poplar trees_

 _Pastoral scene of the gallant South_  
 _The bulgin' eyes and the twisted mouth_  
 _Scent of magnolias sweet and fresh_  
 _Then the sudden smell of burnin' flesh_

 _Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck_  
 _For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck_  
 _For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop_  
 _Here is a strange and bitter crop_

The Careers followed their echoing voices like moths to a flame. It was plain from the look her face that the song frightened the girl from 1. But she and the boy from 2 were too angry to be daunted. The girl from 2 wasn't with them. They must have left her behind at the Cornucopia because of her injury.

As planned, the two Careers easily navigated their way around the foot traps. By the time they reached the last one, they were feeling very superior. There had been no sight of Tansy and Pepper but the Careers didn't find that strange. They were at a point where there was a bend in the canyon and assumed their prey was hiding around the corner. With arrogant smirks, they jumped over the last foot trap. The boy from 2 landed right on top of the tracker jacker nest. Their arrogance turned to horror as the furious swarm enveloped them. The girl from 1 was so startled that she took a step back and got caught in the foot trap. She screamed in pain and cried for help but the boy from 2 was too busy trying to save himself. He ran around the corner and kept running for as long as he could. He was going to kill the people who did this to them, even if it was the last thing he ever did. But he never saw the girls again. And he couldn't outrun the tracker jackers for long. Two cannons were fired within minutes.

It took a long time for the wasps to calm down. The nightly death recap for Root and the three Careers they killed came and went long before Tansy and Pepper were able to move again. They had managed to avoid being stung by the tracker jackers completely. The mud had concealed their scent in addition to camouflaging them.

The two girls walked back to their camp in a heavy silence. There was nothing to say. Even if there was, they wouldn't have known where to begin. Root was dead. The two of them had become killers. Neither of them had ever been so low before.

When they reached the camp, the girls removed Root's body from the brush. They wanted to say goodbye. Tell him how much they loved him. But the words wouldn't come. They were swallowed up by the emptiness they felt where he used to be alive in their hearts and minds. Instead, they did their best to close his eyes and gathered a bouquet of white yucca flowers and gently folded his arms over them so that it looked like they were being held by him. Then they sat and stared at his slightly more peaceful expression, mourning him in silence. They shed no tears this time. They were too hollow for that.

They weren't sure how much time passed. It felt like forever. The next thing Tansy knew, it was dawn. She finally looked up and realized the body of the boy from 1 was still hanging from the tree.

"We should cut him down," she heard herself say.

"We should let him hang," Pepper said bitterly. "He killed Root."

"Yeah… but his family's watching," Tansy said quietly. "Despite what he did, he was someone's son, maybe someone's brother. We should give him back to them. They didn't do anything to us." She paused. Pepper remained silent. "It's all right to be angry. I'm angry, too." Tansy said sadly. "But I don't want to be cruel. I don't want to do to them what the Careers did to us."

Pepper looked up at Tansy for a moment and then down at her brother. After a long while, she gave a small nod of consent. So Tansy stood up, crossed over to the tree, and undid the noose, letting the boy's body fall to the ground. She stared at it and wondered what everyone must be thinking of her now. Annie and her father. Finnick and Mags. Vita. Were they shocked by what she had done? Surprised she could kill so easily? Horrified? Tansy didn't expect them to understand. She didn't understand herself. Shouldn't it be harder to kill another human being? She had told Finnick before that she wouldn't actively go after anyone in the arena, but she had done just that when she the trap for the Careers and lured them into it. And, at the moment, she felt less regret over their deaths than she had over the animals she killed for food. That worried Tansy. What was she becoming?


	8. Chapter 8

Author's note: I apologize in advance for being a bad songwriter, so I had to borrow heavily from other sources. This was done on purpose for the folk songs, but Tansy's lullaby is supposed to be an original song created by her mother. I don't own a word of it. I'm sure you Sweeney Todd and Barbra Streisand fans out there will recognize it. Well, putting my unabashed stealing of song lyrics aside, I hope everyone enjoys this chapter!

* * *

 **Chapter 8: The Flood**

* * *

Since the hovercraft didn't come for the bodies, Tansy and Pepper assumed that meant they were too close to them. So they removed themselves from the canyon so it could take Root home for a proper burial before his body started to rot. They sat in the woods and watched the sky through the trees. They didn't have to wait long. The hovercraft appeared soon after they left. The girls held each other while they watched it retrieve the bodies of their enemies and their beloved Root.

"Sing something, Tansy," said Pepper, clutching her friend with her eyes fixed on the sky. "I can't stand the silence."

So Tansy sang another song. An old spiritual. Despite her sorrow, her voice rang as sweet and clear as a crystal bell. She let all of her emotions—her fears and her pain—everything she felt but couldn't say aloud, flow out of her and into the music.

 _Swing low, sweet chariot  
Comin' for to carry me home  
Swing low, sweet chariot  
Comin' for to carry me home_

 _I looked over yonder and what did I see  
Comin' for to carry me home  
A band of angels were a comin' for me  
Comin' for to carry me home_

 _Swing low, sweet chariot  
Comin' for to carry me home  
Swing low, sweet chariot  
Comin' for to carry me home_

 _If you get to heaven before I do  
Comin' for to carry me home  
Tell all my friends I'm comin' there too  
Comin' for to carry me home_

 _Swing low, sweet chariot  
Comin' for to carry me home  
Swing low, sweet chariot  
Comin' for to carry me home_

 _I'm sometimes up and sometimes down  
Comin' for to carry me home  
But still I know I'm heavenly bound  
Comin' for to carry me home_

 _Swing low, sweet chariot  
Comin' for to carry me home  
Swing low, sweet chariot  
Comin' for to carry me home_

 _If I get there before you do  
Comin' for to carry me home  
I'll cut a hole and pull you through  
Comin' for to carry me home_

 _Swing low, sweet chariot  
Comin' for to carry me home  
Swing low, sweet chariot  
Comin' for to carry me home_

She let her voice trail off into silence as the last body was lifted into the hovercraft.

Finnick stared at Tansy's image on the screen, transfixed. When she stopped singing, he realized he had been crying. He wasn't the only one. He looked at Mags and saw that she was already using a handkerchief to wipe away a few tears of her own. There wasn't a dry eye in the Capitol that day. Undistorted by the strange acoustics of the canyon's walls, Tansy's voice held the entire audience captive. It was the first time Finnick had ever heard her sing like that. Mags and Annie had bragged to him about Tansy's talent for singing before. At the time he had thought they were exaggerating because of their fondness for her but now he understood just how rudely he had been underestimating Tansy. Her voice was beautiful beyond description. Like the call of a siren. No words could ever do it justice.

He looked at her again, naked, covered from head to toe in clay and mud, with tracks of tears running down her face. She should have looked as frightened and vulnerable as her friend Pepper. But there was a kind of strength in the way she held herself. There was sadness in her eyes but it was not despair. It was the type of sadness that simply needed time to heal. There was still hope there. Yes, she had been hurt and scarred, deeply. But she was not yet defeated.

For a long time, Tansy and Pepper just sat there with their eyes fixed to the sky. They weren't ready to return to the canyon. The place where Root was tortured and murdered. The place where they became murderers in turn.

The sound of another cannon reminded them that it was a bad idea to remain out in the open, but they couldn't bring themselves to care. They were physically exhausted and their minds and hearts were filled with a weariness that no amount of sleep could cure. It wasn't until they saw the silver parachutes that they realized how hungry they were. They could smell the food before it landed. Numbly, out of nothing more than reflex, they reached for the containers that were now in front of them. From District 4, Tansy received a small pot of the quince stew she mentioned during her interview and a thermos of hot chocolate. The last one was probably a personal touch from Finnick and Mags. From District 11, Pepper had received a crescent roll. It might not seem like much, but the longer the Games lasted, the more expensive gift items became. It was an extravagant gift for a poor District like 11. But more than that, the food was a reminder that they were not alone. That they still had people rooting for them. Waiting for them to come home.

The girls broke the bread in half and shared the stew and hot chocolate between them. When they had finished eating, they finally made themselves move. The weather seemed to match their mood. It started to rain as they made their way back to the camp. It came down so hard that it stung their skin and battered their bodies. All the mud and clay still covering them was washed away. Their shelter was also in danger of being washed away by the fierce rain.

Tansy realized they needed to find better shelter soon, or all of their supplies would be ruined and they would be ill by the next morning. She gathered up what she could into her backpack and carefully led Pepper up the ledge to the mountain lion's old den. Pepper seemed reluctant to move but she leaned on Tansy and let her guide her without any argument.

The mouth of the cave was so small they had to crawl through it one at a time. But the inside was much larger, and most importantly it was warm and dry. Tansy pushed out the old bones that were scattered around on the floor and found two snags of rock to tie the cord to and made a line to hang up everything that needed drying. Pepper just sat on the floor and stared out at the rain. It scared Tansy. She had seen that look many times before. On her mother's face. The sleeping bag was damp but still warm, so Tansy helped Pepper into it and climbed in with her. She held her friend and stroked her hair, doing her best to comfort her. Tansy could tell Pepper had begun to slip away, but she didn't know what to say to bring her back. Her own grief was still too near. She was struggling to keep it contained, too. So she lay next to Pepper and held her friend in silence. They stared out through the mouth of the cave, listening to the rain, until sleep claimed them both.

Tansy awoke hours later to a low rumbling and was startled by what sounded like a great crash of waves against rock. Taking care not to disturb Pepper, she crawled from the sleeping bag to the mouth of the cave and peeked out just enough to catch a glimpse of what was going on below. Shielding her face from the whipping rain with her hands, Tansy could just make out the details of the canyon in the dim of twilight. She was startled by what she saw. A flash flood. The canyon had become filled with a torrent of rushing water that came more than halfway up the red rock walls. If they had tried to stay down there, the girls would have been washed away with the remains of their camp and dashed against the rocks. It was a very good thing Tansy decided to move when she did.

She let Pepper sleep and stayed huddled near the mouth of the cave to watch the nightly death recap. The anthem played and through the rain Tansy could make out the face of the girl from 2. The cannon they heard earlier had been for her. All of the Careers were dead now. But there was still the girl from 7. The boy from 10. There were four of them left.

Tansy crawled back into the sleeping bag. There was no need for a guard while the canyon was flooded like that. And even without it she doubted anyone would want to venture out into this deluge.

It was still raining when she woke the next day. The sky was so gray, it was hard to tell the time. Pepper spent most of the day lying in the sleeping bag and staring off into the distance. Tansy helped her despondent friend get dressed once their clothes were dry enough and then sat with her. The flood that kept out intruders also kept them trapped inside the cave. Their only source of food was the small store they had brought with them.

Tansy had debated the idea of trying to swim out but ultimately decided against it. Pepper didn't know how to swim and was in no condition to learn. And the strong pull of the current made it too reckless to try even for an experienced swimmer like Tansy. She could tell from the way the water pulled on her hand when she put it in that there was a dangerous undertow. She could get sucked straight down to the bottom if she wasn't careful.

So she remained beside Pepper and used the day to silently mourn Root with her. Tansy laid their edible goods out into rations and ate what little greens they had left. Pepper could sometimes be coaxed into nibbling on a leaf or two, but Tansy had a feeling it was mostly for her benefit. It broke her heart to see Pepper like that. She looked like someone who had nothing left to lose. It felt like she was giving up. Tansy tried gently to remind her that Root wouldn't want them to fall apart. That even though he was gone, she still had the rest of her family waiting for her back home. A strange look flickered briefly across Pepper's face for a moment, but Tansy couldn't quite place what it meant. Her friend merely gave a slight nod of her head and continued staring aimlessly at the wall of the cave.

Tansy didn't know what to do. She was running out of things to say. "I wouldn't mind, you know," Tansy said quietly. "If it was you who won." Pepper blinked. "I know how much your parents depended on you and Root. You could all finally live without having to worry about getting enough to eat. And Baby Finch wouldn't need to put her name in for tesserae…" She paused when Pepper placed her hand on hers and gave it a squeeze. Tears were running down her friend's face again.

"Can you sing another song, Tansy?" She asked, struggling to keep her voice from breaking. "Finch and Martin used to love it when you sang. No matter how moody those two got, they'd always stop their wailing and whining when you started. Even the birds stopped to listen, and the mockingjays would sing back to you, remember?"

Tansy bit her lip as tears formed in her eyes. "I remember. What do you want me to sing?"

"That lullaby your momma sang while our backs were being treated after the whipping," Pepper said softly. "I always liked that one."

Tansy chewed nervously on her lip, drawing blood. That song brought up a lot of conflicting and painful emotions and memories for her. But Pepper had finally begun to open up again. There was no way she could refuse. Tansy took a few deep breaths to calm herself and steadied her voice before she started singing.

 _Nothing's gonna harm you, not while I'm around  
Nothing's gonna harm you, no sir, not while I'm around  
Demons are prowling everywhere nowadays  
I'll send them howling  
I don't care, I got ways  
No one's gonna hurt you,  
No one's gonna dare  
Others can desert you,  
Not to worry, whistle, I'll be there!  
Demons'll charm you with a smile, for a while,  
But in time...  
Nothing can harm you  
Not while I'm around...  
Being close and being clever  
Ain't like being true  
I don't need to,  
I would never hide a thing from you,  
Like some...  
No one's gonna hurt you, no one's gonna dare  
Others can desert you,  
Not to worry, whistle, I'll be there!  
Demons'll charm you with a smile, for a while  
But in time...  
Nothing can harm you  
Not while I'm around... _

Tears flooded down Tansy cheeks, and she was struggling to keep up with them. That song, which had once been so comforting, was now part of the terrible memory of a broken promise. Her mother hadn't been around for years. Her suicide had given Tansy scars that were too deep to ever fully heal. She wiped her eyes desperately and, before she could completely fall apart, started to sing one of the songs Annie taught her, a song that she often sang when she missed her mother.

 _Bright morning stars are rising  
Bright morning stars are rising  
Bright morning stars are rising  
Day is a breaking in my soul_

 _Oh where are our dear Fathers_  
 _Oh where are our dear Fathers_  
 _They are down in the valley a praying_  
 _Day is a breaking in my soul_

 _Oh where are our dear Mothers_  
 _Oh where are our dear Mothers_  
 _They are gone to heaven a shouting_  
 _Day is a breaking in my soul_

 _Bright morning stars are rising_  
 _Bright morning stars are rising_  
 _Bright morning stars are rising_  
 _Day is a breaking in my soul_

Although she had learned it in District 4, _Bright Morning Stars_ did not originate there. In fact, it was in the region District 12 lay where the song was first sung many centuries ago. It was an ancient song and had become so wide spread at one point, before the districts were walled in and segregated, that it was now known in many other districts as well.

Images of the other two remaining tributes were shown with Tansy's voice singing in the background, intercut with footage of the two friends in the cave. The small girl from 7 was shivering in the rain, huddled up in tree under a piece of plastic, surrounded by a myriad of deadly traps designed to take out anyone who dared to approach. Some of them had been set off by the heavy rain. Her cheeks were hollow and gaunt from starvation and her nose still showed signs of early frostbite. She was greedily devouring a can of beans she had managed to snag from the Cornucopia while the boy from 10 fought the girl from 2. The boy from 10 had killed the girl from 2 and taken over the Cornucopia. He was shown dragging her body away from it in the rain, so the hovercraft would come to collect it, and using a small gas stove to cook slices of canned meat and vegetables. The first real meal he'd had in ten days. Pepper's tears flowed freely as she clung to Tansy. Tansy held her friend and stroked her hair, doing her best to comfort her while a few more tears of her own fell.

Mags and Finnick held each hands as they watched. The way her melodic voice moved the song between feelings of sorrow and hope made the images on their screen all the more potent. Yet there was also something cleansing about it. There was the sense of a weight being lifted.

By the end of her song, the rain had stopped, the clouds began to part. Thin streaks of orange sunlight could be seen breaking through the darkness. From their high vantage point, Tansy could see slivers of a red sunset in the distance. For the first time, they noticed there was something black blocking part of the sky, like a second wall, above the waterfall. But it was difficult to tell much else about it in the fading light. Pepper continued to cry throughout the night until they both fell asleep from exhaustion.

A bright and clear morning broke the day after. The floodwaters that had filled it the day before disappeared as quickly as they had come. All that crying from the previous day seemed to have done Pepper some good. She appeared more alert and made an effort to get out of bed. The girls sat out on the ledge for a while, staring down at the muddy canyon in amazement. Then they looked up at the wall that they had discovered over the waterfall the previous evening and saw that it was a manmade dam. The waterfall had been created by water flowing through the dam's floodgates. While the girls pondered that, they finally opened the packages of crackers and dried beef for their breakfast.

When they finished, they packed up their gear. They knew they couldn't stay there. They were out of food and low on water. They couldn't afford to let themselves become trapped again and it was too dangerous on the ground if rained again and there was another flash flood. They had to leave the canyon.

Their descent from the cave was nerve-wracking. They kept their movements slow and careful but there were still a couple of close calls where the waterlogged clay on the ledge crumbled under their weight and they almost slipped and fell. They managed to make it down safely with only a few new scrapes and bruises. The floor of the canyon was now a muddy soup that came up to their ankles and made it difficult to walk. Tansy almost lost a shoe when the suction sucked it off of her foot. After that the girls removed their socks and shoes and went barefoot. It was a little easier to walk that way, but they were worried about what could be hiding in the mud. They saw a snake slithering across the top of it not too far away.

They knew they had to make their way to the river if they wanted more water when they saw that all that was left of their watering hole was a shallow muddy puddle that was too filthy to drink from. From what they could see out of the canyon's narrow opening, the woods had not been affected by the flood at all. It must have been a localized event in the canyon. The floodwaters probably emptied out elsewhere.

It didn't take them long to find the sheep. They could hear their bleating over the rush of the river as soon as they left the canyon. The girls followed the sounds and approached with caution. They stopped well within the edge of the trees, which came right up to edge of the widened river. The sheep had gathered along the new bank after fleeing the canyon. Beyond the sheep, on the far bank of the river, they could see the boy from 10. He was trying out different weapons. Deciding which of the few that remained suited him best.

Pepper helped Tansy camouflage herself with mud, leaves, and vines so she would blend in with the brush. She stayed back and watched with her weapon at the ready while Tansy quietly crawled up amongst the sheep to refill their water container. She came and went unnoticed. They treated the water and moved deeper into the woods to forage for food. They would leave the boy from 10 alone for now. The river would be difficult for Pepper to cross at its current size and strength and they weren't eager to kill again. He was taller than them, but they had been eating better. There were no projectile weapons left. If he came after them, the two girls could take him down with their spear and knife before he ever reached them.

The silence was broken rather abruptly. "It's going to be just the two of us soon," said Pepper. Her voice was low and quiet, but to Tansy it was as if a bomb had exploded.

Tansy's hands froze on the raspberries she had been about to pick. They both knew what that would mean. There could only be one victor. The audience would expect the two friends to fight to the death. After a long moment she said, "Couldn't we just refuse to kill each other?"

Now it was Pepper's turn to be shocked. "You know they'd never let us get away with it," she said gravely. She didn't want to fight either but she knew the Games would never stop until at least one of them was dead. "Only one of us can win. I think it should be you."

"No way! I can't kill you! I won't!" Tansy hissed angrily. She cast a nervous glance around and quickly lowered her voice. "What about your family?" she asked.  
"They're waiting for you to come back to them!"

"Isn't yours waiting for you?" Pepper countered sadly, looking tired. "Tansy, about my family, there's something I—"

The rest of whatever Pepper wanted to say was cut off by a huge, horrendous noise like a giant crack of thunder that echoed throughout the arena. The girls exchanged a startled look and, before they could ask what it was, they heard and felt a great rumble that shook the ground beneath their feet. Tansy's eyes widened in fear as she remembered the way the canyon had rumbled before it flooded. An image of the enormous dam above the waterfall flashed in her mind. It couldn't be!

"Run!" Tansy shouted, grabbing Pepper's hand to pull her along as she took flight. "Run! We have to get to higher ground!"

The words had only just left her lips when the massive wall of water came crashing through the trees behind them. Pepper screamed and the girls ran as fast and far as their feet could carry them. It wasn't enough. The only way to get above the water before it crushed them was to climb. The two girls scrambled up a giant evergreen together. Pepper cried out in fear when the water rushed up around them and she lost her grip on the tree. Tansy immediately threw one of her hands out to catch her.

Her heart nearly stopped when a cannon sounded, but it wasn't for Pepper. She was still alive, clinging to the wrist of the hand that Tansy had wrapped around her forearm. Tansy felt like she was being ripped apart, but she held on. She grit her teeth and held on to her friend and the tree as tight as she could so they wouldn't be swept away. And then they heard another cannon. She and Pepper were the only ones left now.

A flash of panic shot through Tansy when she saw the look in friend's eyes. "No!" she cried. But it was too late. Pepper let go of her wrist. "Stop!" Tansy begged, desperate to keep a grip on her friend as she began to slip from her grasp.

"It's all right, Tansy," Pepper said, straining to be heard above the roar of the rushing water. "I'm glad the three of us got to be together, in the end…"

"Hold on, Pepper!" Tansy cried. "I'm going to save you!"

Pepper gave her a small smile. Tansy's breath caught in her throat and her eyes widened in horror as she was pulled away from her. Her friend's final words were nearly swallowed up by the water along with her body but they hung in the air, haunting her. "You already have."

"Noooo!" Tansy screamed in horror. She released her grip on the tree and dove in after Pepper. She wasn't ready to let go. She couldn't give up on her yet. She thought she saw a human hand amongst the other debris being swirled around in the muddy water, but it was just a cluster of twigs.

Tansy had to resurface for more air before she blacked out and drowned. She was about to dive again when she heard the cannon. Tansy ignored it and dived anyway. Maybe, if she got to her soon enough, she be revived. She was frantic, desperate to save her friend. She couldn't lose Pepper, too. A log slammed into Tansy's side and sent her bobbing back to the surface. She coughed and gasped for air, clinging to the floating debris while she tried to catch her breath. The ribs on the left side of her body burned like they were on fire. Tansy yelled and cried in anger and frustration, hitting the log with her fist even as she clung to it for dear life. It had begun to sink in how futile her attempts to find Pepper's body were. Her screams of grief and agony were drowned out by the roar of the water.

No, not the water. It was voices, human voices. The torrential water had begun to calm and she was now hearing the roar of the crowd in the Capitol being played live over the speakers.

The hovercraft materialized overhead and a ladder dropped for her. Tansy made no move to grab it. She didn't want to leave without Pepper. Why should she get to live when both of her friends had died? What was the point? There was nothing—

And then, she saw it. Floating on the surface of the water, just six inches away from her, was her choker. The choker Annie had made for her to hold the conch pearl their father gave her mother. The choker Finnick and Mags had kept safe for her during her remake. The choker Vita had modified to hold the abalone pearl Annie gave her for good luck. So she would survive the Games and return home. Home. That's right. She had to go home now. Annie was still waiting for her. Tears filled Tansy's eyes as she shot off of the log to grab the choker before it could be swept beyond her reach. She clutched the precious memento in one hand and reached for the ladder with the other.

The electric current froze her in place the second her hand closed around its first rung, and this time Tansy was glad because she wasn't sure she could have held on for the whole ride without it. Her vision was starting to darken. The minute the door closed behind her and the current stopped, she slumped to the floor unconscious.

When Tansy woke, she was afraid to move at first. She didn't recognize the room she was in at all. The entire ceiling glowed with a soft yellow light allowing her to see that she was in a room containing just her bed. No doors, no windows were visible. The air smelled of something sharp and antiseptic. Her right arm had several tubes that extended into the wall behind her. She was naked, but the bedclothes were soothing against her skin. She tentatively lifted her left hand above the cover. There was a dull pain in her side. She examined her hand first. Not only had it been scrubbed clean, the nails were filed in perfect ovals. She reached her manicured hand down to side beneath the covers and felt that there was a bandage on it. She hadn't even realized that she had been injured. It must have happened when the log crashed into her. She touched her cheek, her lips. In the arena they had become dry and chapped from the cold and the wind, but now they were soft and supple again. She ran her fingers through her silken hair. There wasn't a single knot left in her curls.

She tried to sit up, but some sort of wide restraining band kept her from rising more than a few inches. The physical confinement made her panic and she was trying to pull herself up and wriggle her hips through the band when a portion of the wall slid open and in stepped one of the attendants in white that she had seen around the Training Center carrying a tray. The sight of her calmed Tansy and she stopped trying to escape. She wanted to ask the silent girl a million questions, but her strange surroundings made Tansy wary. Obviously she was being closely monitored. The girl set the tray across Tansy's thighs and pressed something that raised her into a sitting position. While she adjusted her pillows, Tansy asked her first question. She said it out loud, as clearly as her rusty voice would allow. "Where am I?" The girl said nothing but gave her a small, sympathetic smile, and slipped a spoon into her hand.

Tansy tried another question. "Where are Mags and Finnick? Can I see them?" the girl gave her a nod and went to fetch them. At least, that was where Tansy hoped she was going.

As the silent girl left, the door closed noiselessly after her and Tansy turned hungrily to her tray. On it was a bowl of clear broth, a small serving of applesauce, and a glass of water. She wished there was more and was surprised at the size of her appetite, given everything she had been through, but apparently her empty stomach and her heavy heart weren't on speaking terms at the moment. But she found it was an effort to finish the spare meal before her. Her stomach seemed to have shrunk to the size of a grape, and she had to wonder how long she been out because she had no trouble eating a fairly sizeable lunch that last day in the arena. Tansy shuddered at the memory of Pepper sinking into the water and shook her head in an attempt to chase it away. There was usually a lag of a few days between the end of the competition and the presentation of the victor so that they could put the starving, wounded, mess of a person back together again. Somewhere, Vita would be creating her wardrobe for the public appearances. Finnick and Mags would be arranging the banquet for her sponsors, reviewing the questions for her final interview. Back home, District 4 was probably already organizing the homecoming celebrations for her.

Home! Annie and her father! Mari! Even the thought of shy and aloof Dylan made her smile. Soon she would be home!

Her smile fell when she thought of the people who wouldn't get to see their families again. Pepper and Root. She didn't know how she would ever be able to face their parents, or Baby Finch and Martin, again.

She wanted to get out of this bed. To see Finnick and Mags and Vita, to find out more about what's been going on. Anything to distract her from the guilt she felt over her friends' deaths. And why shouldn't she? Tansy felt fine physically. But as she started to work her way out of the band, she felt a cold liquid seep into her vein from one of the tubes and almost immediately lost consciousness.

This happened on and off for an intermediate amount of time. Her waking, eating, and, even though she resisted the impulse to try and escape the bed, being knocked out again. Tansy seemed to be in a strange continual twilight. Only a few things registered. The silent attendant in white had not returned since the feeding, her bandage was removed, her scars were disappearing, and did she imagine it? Or did she hear a man's voice yelling? Not in the Capitol accent, but in the warmer cadences of District 4. It was Finnick, she was sure of it. She hadn't seen him but she recognized his voice, and she couldn't help having a vague, comforting, warm and fuzzy feeling knowing that he was looking out for her.

Then finally, the time arrived when she came to and there was nothing plugged into her right arm. The restraint around her middle had been removed and she was free to move about. Tansy started to sit up but was arrested by the sight of her hands. The skin was perfection, smooth and glowing. Not only are the scars from the arena gone, but those accumulated over years of working in Districts 11 and 4 ever since she was old enough to walk had vanished without a trace. The side where she had been injured felt like satin. She froze when her hand brushed against her upper back. The blood drained from her face as she tried to find a trace of the scars that used to be there. Nothing. There was nothing left. Those scars were her last connection to Pepper and Root, the only thing she had left to remember them by. And they were gone. They had been taken from her. Her chest tightened. Tears welled up in Tansy's eyes. She had to get out of there. If she didn't see someone she knew soon, she was going to scream.

She slipped her legs out of bed, nervous about how they would bear her weight, and found them strong and steady. Lying at the foot of the bed was an outfit that made her flinch so badly, she nearly did scream. It was what she and all of the other tributes had worn in the arena. Her seastorm blue jacket and tawny pants. She stared at it as if it had teeth until she remembered that, of course, this was what she would wear to greet her team. She would almost rather go naked. Almost. At least they had also returned her choker to her.

She was dressed in less than a minute and fidgeting in front of the wall where she knew there was a door even if she couldn't see it when it suddenly slid open. She stepped into a wide, deserted hall that appeared to have no other doors on it. But it must. She couldn't be the only person there.

"Hello?" she called out, since there was no one to ask. She heard her name in response, and it was spoken by a familiar voice. It was a voice that provoked first relief and then eagerness. Finnick.

Tansy turned and saw them all waiting in a big chamber at the end of the hall—Finnick, Mags, Priscilla, Vita and Felix. Her feet took off without hesitation. Maybe a victor should show more restraint, more superiority, especially when she knew this would be on tape, but Tansy didn't care. She ran for them and surprised even herself when she launched into Finnick's arms first. He wrapped his arms around her in a protective embrace. She could hear the relief in his voice when he whispered, "You scared the hell out of us," in her ear. Mags hugged Tansy and stroked her hair. Her relief to have her back safely, her sorrow for the pain Mags knew she must be feeling over the loss of her friends, Tansy could see it all in her eyes. Priscilla was somewhat teary and kept patting her hair and talking about how she told everyone she was a winner. Felix was bawling his eyes out over the mere sight of her. Vita just hugged her tight and didn't say anything.

"Come on," she said at length. "We have to get you ready for the ceremony."

With Priscilla and Felix falling over her, it was relief to be alone with Vita, to feel the strength in her delicate hand as she guided her away from the cameras, down a few passages and to an elevator that led to the lobby of the Training Center. The hospital then was far underground, even beneath the gym where the tributes practiced tying knots and throwing spears. The windows of the lobby were darkened, and a handful of guards stood on duty. No one else was there to see them cross to the tribute elevator. Their footsteps echoed in the emptiness. And when they rode up to the fourth floor, the faces of Pepper, Root, and all the other tributes who would never return flashed across Tansy's mind and there was a heavy, tight place in her chest again.

When the elevator doors opened, Cassia, Fabia, and Gaius engulfed her, talking so quickly and ecstatically she couldn't make out their words. The sentiment was clear though. They were truly thrilled to see Tansy and she was happy to see them, too, although not like she was to see Vita. It was more the way one might be glad to see an affectionate trio of pets after a particularly difficult day. Tansy thought that might have been a little uncharitable of her but she had so many other dreadful thoughts concerning everything that had happened during the Games eating away at her that it hardly seemed to matter in comparison.

They swept Tansy into the dining room and she got a real meal—roast duck and carrots and soft rolls—although her portions were still being strictly controlled. Because when she asked for seconds, she was refused.

"No, no, no. They don't want it all coming back up on the stage," said Cassia, but she secretly slipped her an extra roll under the table to let Tansy know she was on her side.

They went back to her room and Vita disappeared for a while as the prep team got Tansy ready.

"Oh, they did a full body polish on you," said Fabia enviously. "Not a flaw left on your skin. They even managed to fix those terrible scars on your back."

Tansy bit her lip. She knew the stylist hadn't meant anything by it, but it still stung to be reminded of how the Capitol had taken away her last physical connection to Pepper and Root. And when she looked in the mirror all she could see was how skinny she was. Sure, she was probably worse when she came out of the arena, but she could easily count her ribs.

They took care of the shower settings for her, and they went to work on her hair, nails, and makeup when she was done. They chattered so continuously that Tansy barely had to reply, which was good, since she didn't feel very talkative. It was funny in an odd way, because even though they were rattling on about the Games, it was all about where they were or what they were doing or how they felt when a specific event had occurred. "I was still in bed!" "I had just had my hair dyed!" "I swear I nearly fainted!" Everything was about them, not the dying boys and girls in the arena.

They didn't wallow in the Games this way in District 11. Not even in District 4, where volunteering could be considered an honor. There would be a homecoming celebration for the victor, when there was one, and a respectful toast to the fallen. The victor would, of course, gain a new sense of status but the Games themselves were not considered a topic for pleasant conversation by most. They grit their teeth and watched because they had to and tried to get back to business as soon as possible when they were over. To keep from hating the prep team, Tansy effectively tuned out most of what they were saying. Although she did manage to catch a few redeeming remarks of how sorry they were about Pepper and Root's deaths.

Vita came in with one of the loveliest dresses Tansy had ever seen. The flowing gown was light, airy and seemed to float in the air. The colors were muted and soft. Pale blues, greens, and pinks in warm hues over sheer, glistening layers of champagne, silver, and gold. Streams of zigzagging ribbons with pearls tucked into the bends. The puffy sleeves were made with a sheer sliver material with an iridescent gold shine that had been ruched like rippling water.

Vita slipped it over her head. Tansy immediately noticed the padding over her breasts, adding the few curves that hunger had stolen from her body. Her hands went to her chest and she frowned.

"I know," said Vita before she could object. "But the Gamemakers wanted to alter you surgically. Finnick and Mags had a huge fight with them over it. Finnick really let them have it. This was the compromise." She stopped Tansy before she could look at her reflection. "Wait, don't forget the shoes." Fabia helped Tansy into a pair of soft, flat leather sandals and she turned to the mirror.

Staring back at Tansy was a young water nymph. The floaty fabrics and ribbons softly glowed. All of it, the colors, the way the gown flowed and shimmered in the light, reminded Tansy of the way the river in the arena had sparkled in the sun. Even the slightest movement in the air sent a ripple up her body. The gown's silhouette was loose, not fitted like her blue Venus costume or the pink rosebud dress. By comparison, the chariot costume seemed garish, the interview dress too contrived. In this dress, she gave the illusion of wearing water and sunlight. She was the beauty of nature incarnate. There was a soft, beautifully melancholy feel to it.

"What do you think?" asked Vita.

"I think it's the best yet," Tansy said. When she managed to pull her eyes away from the glimmering gown, she was in for something of a shock. Her hair was loose, in soft curls with the top front sections of her slightly twisted and pulled back, braided and pined elegantly behind her head with pearls. The makeup rounded and filled out the sharp angles of her face. A clear polish coated her nails. The gown was gathered at her shoulders, not her ribs or waist, largely eliminating any help the padding would have given her figure. The hem fell just to the tops of her feet in the front with a slight train trailing out a little bit behind her in the back. Without heels you could see her true stature. Beneath the glowing dress, she looked, very simply, like a girl. A young and doleful one. Twelve at most. Innocent. Harmless. Yes, it was shocking that Vita pulled this of when you remembered how she had just won the Games and had killed most of the Career pack.

This was a very calculated look. Nothing Vita designed was arbitrary. Tansy bit her lip trying to figure out her motivation.

"I thought it'd be something more…" she said, trailing off. More what? She wasn't sure. Maybe more like her interview outfit? This was a very serious dress. It mirrored her conflicting emotions perfectly.

"You said you didn't normally care for frilly pink dresses. I thought you would like this better. And it fits your new image. They're calling you the 'Golden Siren'," Vita answered carefully as she slipped Tansy's choker into another hidden pocket for her.

So it wasn't really about her. It was about the Capitol and the Gamemakers and the audience. Although Tansy did not yet understand Vita's design or her new epithet, it was a reminder the Games were not quite finished. And beneath her benign reply, she sensed a warning. Of something Vita couldn't even mention in front of her own team.

They took the elevator to the level where the tributes trained. It was customary for the victor and his or her support team to rise from beneath the stage. First the prep team, followed by the escort, the stylist, the mentor, and finally the victor. Since Finnick was the better public speaker, had more stage presence, and had secured most of the funding from the sponsors, it was agreed that he would represent both mentors while Mags watched from a place of honor in the front row in the audience. After leading her to a dimly lit area, Vita and the prep team peeled off to change into their own costumes and take their positions, leaving her alone. The rumbling of the crowd was loud, so she didn't notice Finnick until he touched her shoulder. She sprang away, startled, still half in the arena, she guessed.

"Relax, it's just me. Let's have a look at you," he said. Tansy held out her arms and turned. Once again, Finnick was floored when he saw her. His chest tightened and he truly wished that he could protect her from what was coming next. Tansy had no idea of the trouble she was in.

"What?" Tansy asked when she saw the way he was staring at her.

"It's nothing," he said. He decided he should at least warn her before she went on stage. "You look beautiful. How about a hug for luck?"

It seemed like an odd request to Tansy but she complied. Only, when she put her arms around his neck, she found herself trapped in his embrace. He began talking, very fast, very quietly in her ear, her hair concealing his lips.

"Listen up. You're in trouble. The Gamemakers and Snow aren't happy with you for trying to go against the rules in the arena. They can't stand being shown up. I've heard there are signs of unrest in the districts. Even people in the Capitol had begun to root for you to survive along with your friends," said Finnick.

Tansy felt dread coursing through her now, but she laughed as though he was saying something funny because nothing was covering her mouth. "So, what?"

"Your only defense can be you were so distraught with grief over Root's death that you weren't thinking clearly when you made that suggestion to Pepper, and you weren't responsible for your actions." He pulled back and adjusted the way her curls fell over her shoulders. "Got it?" He could be talking about anything now.

"Got it," she said. It wasn't that far from the truth anyway.

Finnick gave her a somber smile. "Better take our places." He lead her to the metal circle they would be riding up. "Remember, we'll all be right there with you. This is your night, Tansy. Try to enjoy it." He gave her hand a quick squeeze and stepped onto the metal circle.

Tansy's eyes followed him as he ascended onto the stage above. She clenched her fists around her skirt. Her whole body was shaking like a leaf. Hopefully, it would be put down to excitement. After all, it was her night.

The damp, moldy smell beneath the stage threatened to choke her. A cold, clammy sweat broke out on her skin and she couldn't rid herself of the feeling that the boards above her head were about to collapse, to bury her alive under the rubble. When she left the arena, when the trumpets played, she was supposed to be safe. From then on. For the rest of her life. But if what Finnick said was true, and he had no reason to lie, she had never been in such a dangerous place in her life.

It was so much worse than being hunted in the arena. There, she could only die. End of story. But out here Annie, their father, Mari, the people of District 4, everyone she cared about back home could be punished if she couldn't pull off the girl-driven-crazy-by-grief scenario Finnick had suggested.

So she still had a chance, though. Funny, in the arena, when she tried to talk Pepper into cooperating to create a stalemate, she really was only thinking of saving her friend, not how her actions would reflect on the Capitol. But the Hunger Games were their weapon and you were not supposed to be able to defeat it. So now the Capitol would act as if they had been in control the whole time. As if they orchestrated the whole event, right down to her desperate attempts to save Pepper even after her cannon went off. But that would only work if she played along with them.

But, then again, they probably had orchestrated it, the flood at least. It had happened too soon after she made her suggestion to refuse to kill each other for it to have been a simple coincidence. They must have decided she and Pepper were dangerous and tried to get rid of them then and there. In the end, Pepper had been right. They never would have let them get away with it.

The simple truth was, Tansy didn't know what she was thinking. She hadn't even begun to sort out her feelings about everything that had happened in the arena, about Pepper and Root's deaths. It was too complicated. What she did was part of the Games. As opposed to what she did out of anger against the Capitol. Or because of how it would be viewed back in District 4 or District 11. Or simply because it was the only decent thing to do. Or what she did because she cared about them. Because she wanted to be a good friend.

Those were questions to be unraveled back home, in the peace and quiet of the ocean, when no one was watching. Not here with every eye upon her. But she wouldn't have that luxury for who knew how long. And right now, the most dangerous part of the Hunger Games was about to begin.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Victor**

* * *

The anthem boomed in Tansy's ears, and she heard Caesar Flickerman greeting the audience. Did he know how crucial it was to get every word right from now on? He must. He would want to help them. The crowd broke into applause as the prep team was presented. She imagined Fabia, Cassia, and Gaius bouncing around and taking ridiculous, bobbing bows. It was a safe bet they were clueless. Then Priscilla was introduced. The escort had a very keen instinct about certain things and must at least suspect there was trouble. Vita received a huge cheer, of course, she had been brilliant, had a dazzling return to the Games. Tansy now understood her choice of dress for her tonight. She would need to look as sweet and innocent and melancholy as possible. Finnick's appearance brought on a round of cheering, squealing, and stomping that went on for over five minutes. It had been a while since he made an official public appearance like this. Not since he won his own Games five years ago. What if he hadn't warned her in time? Would she have acted differently? No, Tansy didn't think so. But she could easily have been a lot less convincing and appeared more angry about the way her friends died than she needed to be now. Right now. Because she could feel the plate she was standing on lifting her up to the stage.

Blinding lights. The deafening roar rattled the metal under her feet. Then there were Finnick and Vita and the rest of her team just a few yards away. The sight of them was so comforting she was able to gain a little control over her shaking. Caesar greeted Tansy warmly with a sympathetic smile and introduced her to the crowd. There was another roar, cheering, and a few shouts of reassurance and sympathy for her. She was led toward the victor's chair, an ornate seat from which the winning tribute watched a film of the highlights of the Games. Tansy felt uncomfortable under the spotlight, and she made no effort to appear otherwise. She kept her hands together in her lap, let her shoulders droop, and made herself look as small as possible. A sad little girl who carried an air of defeat even in victory. She suddenly felt so vulnerable in her flimsy dress. But she guessed that was the point.

Caesar Flickerman gave her a sympathetic smile, made a few jokes to lighten the mood of the audience, and then it was time for the show. This would last exactly three hours and was required viewing for all of Panem. As the lights dimmed and the seal appeared on the screen, Tansy realized she was unprepared for this. She did not want to watch her twenty-three fellow tributes die. Especially not Pepper and Root. She saw enough death the first time around. Her heart started pounding and she had a strong impulse to run. How had the other victors faced this? How did Mags and Finnick do it? During the highlights they periodically showed the winner's reaction up on a box in the corner of the screen. She thought back to earlier years… some were triumphant, pumping their fists in the air, beating their chests. Most just seemed stunned. She was too young to have seen Mags' Games. Finnick… she couldn't remember. She had come down with a fever near the end of his Games, so it was all a blur. Of course, the previous victors didn't have the Capitol looking for a way to destroy them. All she knew was the only thing keeping her in that chair was the knowledge that she was in enough trouble already, so she had to be on her best behavior in front of the cameras.

Condensing several weeks into three hours was quite a feat, especially when you considered how many cameras were going at once. Whoever put together the highlights this year had to choose what sort of story to tell. This year, they told a story of a tragic friendship between tributes from two different districts. Tansy knew she won, but a disproportionate amount of time was spent on her, right from the beginning. She was glad though, because it revealed more about her relationship with Pepper and Root, how happy she was with them, which supported the whole crazy-with-grief thing that was her defense for defying the Capitol, plus it meant they wouldn't have as much time to linger over the deaths.

The first half hour or so focused on the pre-arena events, the reaping, the chariot ride through the Capitol, their training scores, and their interviews. They even added a few scenes of her training together with Pepper and Root, their touching reunion in the Training Center, how they would sit together during lunch with smiles on their faces. There was this sort of upbeat soundtrack playing under it that made it twice as awful because, of course, almost everyone on screen was dead.

Once they were in the arena, there was detailed coverage of the bloodbath and then the filmmakers basically alternated between shots of tributes dying and shots of her with Pepper and Root. Now she saw what the audience saw, how while everyone else had scattered and mistrusted each other from the start, even the Careers who were working together. She and her friends had been so close they barely needed to speak in order to communicate their intentions. This was best illustrated when they had to outrun the deadly cold snap. The instant Pepper fell, without a word, without a glance, Tansy and Root's hands each shot out to grab one of her arms to swing her back onto her feet without missing a beat. Any hesitation, and all three of them would have been dead. But thanks to their solid teamwork, all three of them lived. Subtitles were shown at the bottom of the screen whenever they used sign language. Tansy realized she had missed whole conversations between her friends that had taken place when they were out of her line of sight or she was sleeping. They seemed to be arguing about whether or not they should tell her something. The one constant that they both agreed on was the need to protect her, just as she had felt the need to protect them. Tansy was curious about what it was they weren't telling her. She remembered how Pepper had been about to say something about their family when the dam broke. She learned what that was during the night after Root was injured by the mountain lion. Root had stirred and awoke while she slept during one of Pepper's turns to watch. They had told her that nothing had changed in District 11. That their family was fine. It had been a lie. Tears began to roll down Tansy's cheeks as she read their hands, and she raised her hands to cover her mouth. Their parents, Martin, baby Finch, they were all dead. The nature of their details behind their deaths wasn't mentioned, but the fact that her friends had lost everyone else in their family and had been living in 11's terrible community home for the past couple of years was. They said she was the only one left that they loved and who truly cared about them. That they thought she might have changed after living in 4, but she was still the same selfless friend that they remembered. They didn't think they could win. They'd had no hope of that until their reunion with her in the Training Center. When the first words out of her mouth were to ask about their family and how everyone else in District 11 was doing, that was when they had decided that if they had to die, it would be to make sure she, at least, survived. For as long as possible. They doubted they would have ever gotten as far as they did without her. They played Root's death in full, how the boy from 1 and the girl from 2 had snuck up on him while she and Pepper were setting the traps. How they taunted him while they strung him up from the tree and carved his flesh to make him scream. Tansy shook as she watched, her fists clenched in anger. It hadn't even been to lure out her and Pepper. They had just been torturing him for fun, because they had gotten bored. Then she and Pepper came running. Their shock, their horror at what was being done to their friend and brother was made clear as daylight as the cameras zoomed in on their faces. Then Pepper's expression twisted into one of rage, while her face seemed have to suddenly emptied itself of all emotion. A dangerous calm had settled over her. She lunged forward at the same time Pepper threw her knife. The knife flew past the side of her head to hit the girl from 2 in the shoulder. Tansy leaped over the screaming, injured girl to deliver a swift blow to the head of the boy from 1 with a strength she didn't know she had. That eerie expression of calm was still there even as his blood sprayed onto her face. Without hesitation, she turned to finish the girl from 2, who looked terrified as she struggled to get back onto her feet. Then Pepper screamed for her. Root wasn't breathing. All of a sudden, the light came back into Tansy's eyes, and she turned her back on the injured girl to rush to her friends' aid. The girl from 2 ran off, shouting threats of revenge, but Pepper and Tansy were completely focused on trying to help Root. The looks on their faces when they realized he was already dead bought a few exclamations of pity ad sympathy from the audience.

Something inside her shut down and she was too numb to feel anything. It was like watching complete strangers in another Hunger Games. She watched the boy from 2 and the girl from 1 come stomping into their camp. Saw their outrage at finding how they had hung the body of the boy from 1 to rile them up. Then came the singing. It was eerie and strange. Their voices were barely recognizable, but it couldn't have been anyone else, so the two Careers ventured deeper into the canyon to find them. Objectively, Tansy could see the swarm of tracker jackers and the death of the two Careers were as terrifying and gruesome as ever, but again, she felt as though it happened to people she had never met. But she was certain she would have nightmares about it later, once everything had time to sink in. At the moment, she was still partly in fight mode. They omitted the part where they went back for Root, closed his eyes, and put flowers in his hands in an attempt to send him off with a little dignity.

Right. Because even that smacked of rebellion, treating the body of a fallen tribute with such respect. As if they were more than just pawns in the games.

Then came the song. Tansy got to sing every note of _Swing Low, Sweet Chariot_. There was a greater reaction to the song from the audience than the deaths that had preceded it.

Her devotion was finally shown to match Pepper and Root's after that. The way she took care for her despondent friend through her own obvious grief. The way she held Pepper and sang to her. Again, she got to sing every note of her mother's song and _Bright Morning Stars_. Again, there was a strong and very favorable reaction from the audience. And then came the moment where she suggested that she and Pepper should refuse to kill each other. She could hear the desperation in her voice and the audience hushing one another, not wanting to miss anything. A wave of gratitude to the filmmakers swept over her when they showed her futile struggle to save Pepper, against all logic, in full. They showed her dejected refusal to take hold of the ladder when it dropped. She looked like she wanted to follow her friends, to die right then and there. Then came the instant she saw the necklace. The flicker of recognition in her eyes. You could see the gears turning as she remembered what it meant to her and why she was there in the first place. With tears in her eyes, she launched herself forward to grab the choker, clinging to it like a lifeline as she finally took hold of the ladder.

In terms of survival, it was her best moment all night. It showed that she hadn't been in her right mind. That she was so out of it that she had forgotten her promise to come home with the sister she had sacrificed everything the save. For a moment, she hadn't cared whether the Capitol killed her in the arena or not. There was nothing about that moment that could possibly be construed as an attempt to incite rebellion. She was just a scared little girl who was devastated with grief over the loss of two friends and wanted her sister.

The anthem was playing yet again and they rose as President Snow himself took the stage followed by a little girl carrying a cushion that held the crown. He lifted the crown to place it on Tansy's head with a smile. He was still smiling when he settled it on her head, but his eyes, just inches from hers, were as unforgiving as a snake's.

That's when Tansy knew that even though she hadn't wanted any of this, hadn't planned to cause trouble, she was still to blame for having the idea to defy the rules of the Games for even a moment. She was the instigator. She was the one to be punished.

Much bowing and cheering followed. Snow quietly ordered her to smile and wave for the cameras. Her arm was about to fall off from waving when Caesar Flickerman finally bid the audience good night, reminding them to tune in tomorrow for the final interviews. As if they had a choice.

Tansy was whisked to the president's mansion for the Victory Banquet, where she had very little time to eat as Capitol officials and particularly generous sponsors elbowed one another out of the way as they tried to get their picture with her. Face after beaming face flashed by, becoming increasingly intoxicated as the evening wore on. Finnick stayed at her side as her chaperone, given that she was so young. The only thing that kept her from bolting was the way he kept giving her hand reassuring squeezes to remind her that she wasn't alone. Occasionally, she caught a glimpse of Mags or Vita, which was comforting, or President Snow, which was terrifying, but she kept smiling and thanking people as her picture was taken. The one thing she never did was let go of Finnick's hand.

The sun was just peeking over the horizon when they straggled back to the fourth floor of the Training Center. Tansy thought now she might finally get a word alone with her mentors, but she was so exhausted from all the stress of being the center of everyone's attention and a possible target for the Capitol's wrath, that she gave hardly any protest when Mags and Finnick encouraged her to go straight to bed. Finnick escorted her personally to her door.

"Can't we talk?" Tansy asked. Did this mean they were still being monitored?

"There will be plenty of time for that when we get home," said Finnick. "Now, try to get some sleep. You're on air at two."

Tansy was tired, but she was afraid to go to sleep, of what she might see when she closed her eyes. After tossing and turning for a few hours, she tried to slip into the hall and maybe head up to the roof, but when she tried to turn the knob, she found her own bedroom door had been locked from the outside. This was not something she thought Mags or Finnick would do. She was struck by an insidious fear that the Capitol may be not only monitoring her but confining her as well. She had been unable to escape since the Hunger Games began, but this felt different, much more personal. This felt like she was being imprisoned for a crime and she was awaiting sentencing. She remembered the words her mother often murmured while huddled in the corner of a dark room in their old house like a frightened animal. "It never ends, Tansy! The Games never end!" Tansy shuddered, her blood chilled, like ice in her veins. She quickly got back in bed, pulled the covers over her head, and pretended to sleep until Priscilla came to alert her to the start of another "big, big, big day!"

Tansy had about five minutes to eat a bowl of hot grain and stew before the prep team descended. All she had to say was, "The crowd loved you!" and it was unnecessary to speak for the next couple of hours. Aside from the shading and highlights added to round out her face, her makeup was, as usual, very minimal. It was the most natural she had ever looked in the Capitol. The only obvious hints that she was wearing makeup and not a clean face were the soft and subtle sweeps of black eyeliner, the hint of mascara on her lashes, and the transparent balm with only a slight rosy tint that was on her lips. When Vita came in, she shooed the prep team out and dressed Tansy in a sleeveless teal dress with a satin sheen, a high, modest neckline, and a classic full skirt that fell to her knees and was tastefully studded with artificial teal pearls and gems around the waist, spread out sparsely towards the hem. Over her shoulders was a matching shrug with quarter-length sleeves and on her feet were studded teal flats. Her choker was placed safely in another hidden pocket. They made idle chitchat, but Tansy was afraid to ask her anything of real importance because of the incident with the door, and she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched constantly.

The interview took place right down the hall in the sitting room. A space had been cleared and the victor's chair had been moved in and surrounded by vases of various floral arrangements. Some of them even had sprays of tansy flowers added in. Two had obviously been arranged by someone who knew her very well. The first held tansies, daisies, chicory flowers, purple phlox, pink asters, lady's mantle, alliums, sweet marjoram, rue, azaleas, and sprays of the white flowers from wild carrot tops—all favorite wildflowers that she had loved since she was a child. The second held poppies, lupines, verbena, miniature hollyhocks, evening primrose, bluebonnets, blackeyed Susans, and red delphiniums. Those were her favorite wildflowers from District 4. But the arrangement that seemed to demand her attention the most had been placed prominently in the foreground. The vase was filled with only pure white roses. Their scent was so unnaturally strong that it must have been altered in someway. Their cloying perfume was sickly sweet and caught in her throat. There were only a handful of cameras to record the event. No live audience at least. She was grateful for that since it would just be her and Caesar Flickerman this time. Everyone who wasn't actively participating in the interview or part of the camera crew would be cleared out.

Caesar Flickerman gave Tansy a warm hug when she came in. "Congratulations, Tansy. How are you faring?" He seemed genuinely concerned.

"Fine, given the circumstances. Nervous about the interview," she said honestly. Despite his association with the Games, she had come to like Caesar for the way he tried to help her and other tributes whenever they were on stage with him.

"Don't be. We're going to have a fabulous time," he said, giving her cheek a reassuring pat. "I'll try to make it as painless as possible."

"Thank you. I'm not good at talking about myself," she said.

"Nothing you say will be wrong," he said.

And she thought, _Oh, Caesar, if only that were true._ She was very afraid that President Snow might be arranging some sort of "accident" for her as they spoke.

Then Mags and Finnick came over to give her a few last reassuring words before the interview began. Mags was lovely in a flowing, pleated teal tunic with loose sleeves and Finnick was very handsome in a white and teal suit. Apparently there was a matching theme for their team today. Mags gave her a hug and a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"We'll be right in the next room. There's just this and then we go home," he said, giving her hands a reassuring squeeze as he placed a light kiss on her cheek.

Tansy felt a sort of shiver run through her and there was no time to analyze why, because they were ready for her. Mags and Finnick were ushered from the room. Tansy took deep breaths as she moved into place and reminded herself that, like Finnick said, if she could get through this without messing up, they would have to let her go home and hopefully forget all about her.

Someone counted backward and just like that, she was being broadcasted live to the entire country. Caesar Flickerman was wonderful, sympathetic, reassuring, teasing, joking, getting choked up when the occasion presented itself. Talking with him was a little easier this time around thanks to the rapport they had already established that night of the first interview, so long as she ignored the cameras. She managed a few smiles, which she was sure were on the weak side, but Caesar helped attribute this to her grief over the loss of her friends. In fact, he very kindly did most of the talking for her. Of course, she had to talk some, but she was more than willing to let Caesar fill the gaps for her.

Eventually though, Caesar began to pose questions that insisted on fuller answers. "Well, Tansy, I know this must still be very difficult for you to talk about… but personally, and I think I speak for most of the audience as well, I was on the edge of my seat when you asked Pepper to agree to a permanent ceasefire between the two of you. I've never seen anyone try to go against the rules like that. I would have thought it unthinkable. What was going through your mind at the time?"

Tansy's heart was in her throat. How was she supposed to answer that? Did Caesar know how dangerous that question was? She took a long pause, trying to gather her thoughts. Caesar was waiting patiently for her answer. "I… Pepper and Root are—were," she corrected herself sadly, struggling to keep her voice steady, "my two oldest and closest friends. As you already know, my mother, Chicory Fields, was also a victor. But she was from District 11. That's where I was born and raised for the first eight years of my life. It was only later that I went to live with my father and Annie in 4. So I knew Pepper and Root long before the three of us became tributes. We weren't just friends, we grew up together. We were so close, I felt like their family was my family, too. Even after being apart for six years, I still thought of them often."

"I see," Caesar said with sympathy, reaching out to give her hand a reassuring pat. "It must have been hard for you when you found out they would be competing in the Games, too."

"Yes. I was shocked," she said. "I couldn't believe it. When I realized I would have to fight them, that I might have to kill two of the best friends I'd ever had… I was sick to my stomach. I threw up right then and there on the train." She placed a hand over her mouth, feeling ill again as she let all of these repressed emotions rise to the surface again. "I just couldn't bear the thought of it. I was afraid to face them. What if they saw me as an enemy now? After all, we weren't from the same district anymore. Only one tribute could win. But when we finally met again, it was almost as if we had never been apart." Tears were beginning to form in her eyes. "When we saw how strong the Careers were, we knew we would have a better chance of surviving if we teamed up. We always avoided talking about what would happen if it ever came down to the three of us. We didn't want to think about what it would mean, even though it was always at the back of our minds. Even though I knew we would eventually have to fight each other, I still wanted to protect them. But," she bit her lip as the tears fell, "this whole time, they were protecting me. Right from the start. When I asked about their family, they told me nothing had changed. They even told me stories about what Martin, their older brother, and Finch, their baby sister, had been up to. But reality had been so much crueler. I had no idea they had lost their entire family until I saw the highlights yesterday. And like an idiot, I just kept going on about how they couldn't give up because they were waiting for them. I must have hurt them so much. But they never said anything."

"Why do you think that was?" Caesar asked gently.

"They were worried about how I would react," she said sadly. "They didn't want me to pity them. I think they wanted to pretend all the stories they told me were true, so that at least for a while, it would be just like old times, when we younger and all of us were still together in 11." She started crying harder, and Caesar handed her his handkerchief. Tansy did her best to dry her eyes without smudging her makeup. She knew how much the people in the Capitol cared about appearances. "I don't think any of us were really thinking about how to win anymore. I had almost forgotten the real reason why we were there after a while. I couldn't even imagine killing them, of a world without them in it. We just wanted to protect each other. That's why, when Root… When he died, me and Pepper, we both just sort of lost it. I tried to stay strong for her, but it was eating me up inside. I'd already failed Root. I couldn't stand the thought… of losing her, too."

"And that's why you said it?" he asked quietly.

She nodded. "I was desperate. I wasn't thinking about the Games or the rules, winning or losing, any of it. I had even forgotten about Annie, about my promise to come back to her. I didn't care about anything else. I… I just didn't want to watch another friend die. That was all."

By now, Caesar was struggling to keep back tears of his own because he was so moved. "You poor thing. You must have been out of your mind with grief," he said.

Even through her pain, she felt a surge of gratitude toward Caesar for that statement. For feeding the audience the type of conclusion that could help save her and everyone she cared about. She covered her face with her hands and let herself cry. Caesar took that as his cue to pull her into a sort of fatherly hug and gave her comforting pats on the back. He backed off from questioning her until she'd had a chance to recover a little.

"Tansy, I know this has been very painful for you. I don't think any of us will ever forget how hard you tried to save Pepper, even after you heard her cannon. There was a moment when I was afraid you wouldn't grab the ladder," he said gently. "What finally made you move? What made you decide not to give up?"

Tansy was silent for a moment before she answered. "The choker," she said simply.

"Your token in the arena?" he asked.

She nodded and reached into her pocket. She took it out and held it cradled carefully in her hands for him and everyone watching to see. "Annie made it for me. The pink stone, the conch pearl, used to belong to my mother. Our father gave it to her. I carry it everywhere with me, even when I'm not wearing it. During our other interviews, it was in a hidden pocket, like in the dress I'm wearing today. The abalone pearl… I found that the morning of the reaping, when I went fishing with him for our breakfast and lunch. I gave it to Annie, for good luck. After I volunteered, she gave it to me. Vita added it to the choker for me before I went into the arena, so I wouldn't have to choose between them. You're right, Caesar. I almost didn't grab the ladder. For a moment, I wanted to join Pepper and Root. But when I saw the choker in the water, I suddenly remembered Annie and our promise. That I would try to come back to her. After everything… After losing my friends… I just wanted my big sister. I wanted to see my father, and everyone else who was waiting for me back home. I couldn't give up after that," she said softly, closing her eyes as she held her choker close to her heart.

Caesar signed off and it was over. Everyone was laughing and crying and hugging, but Tansy still wasn't sure until she reached Finnick and Mags. They both drew her into a comforting hug. "Okay?" she whispered.

"Perfect," Finnick answered quietly.

Tansy went back to her room to collect a few things and found there was nothing to take. Everything she really needed, she already had. They drove Tansy, Finnick, and Mags through the streets in a car with blackened windows, and the train was waiting for them. Priscilla was accompanying her back, too, of course. They barely had time to say goodbye to Vita and Felix, although they would see Vita in a few months, when they toured the district for a round of victory ceremonies. It was the Capitol's way of reminding people that the Hunger Games never really went away. Tansy would be given a lot of plaques, and everyone would have to pretend they loved her.

The train began moving and they were plunged into night until they cleared the tunnel and Tansy took her first breath since the reaping. They ate an enormous dinner and settled into silence in front of the television. To watch a replay of the interview. Tansy was surprised by how much she had actually ended up talking and how well she spoke despite her fear and grief. With the Capitol growing farther away every second, she began to think more of home. Of Annie and her father. She excused herself to change out of her dress and into a plain shirt and pants. As she slowly, thoroughly washed the makeup from her face and put her hair in two braids, she began transforming back into herself. Tansy Cresta. A girl who was born in District 11 and lived in Canning Row in District 4. Dived for pearls. Swam in the ocean. Fished with her father. Picked wild fruits and herbs with her sister. She stared in the mirror as she tried to remember who she was and who she was not. She realized how close she had become to Finnick. How much she had been hugging him. How much she enjoyed it. She needed to stop that. Finnick was Annie's boyfriend. She was sure he hadn't meant anything by it, but she couldn't say for certain that she didn't. So she forbade herself from making any further unnecessary physical contact with him. She wouldn't allow herself to develop feelings for the same guy her sister was in love with. She made herself remember what it felt like to be with Finnick before she warmed up to him. By the time she joined the others, the pressure of his arms around her felt alien.

When the train made a brief stop for fuel, they were allowed to go outside for some fresh air. There was no longer any need to guard Tansy. She decided to go for a walk along the tracks. Finnick went with her, and she couldn't find anything to say now that they were alone. He was usually the one who did most of the talking, but at the moment he seemed content just to be with her. She frowned slightly at the fluttering butterflies that knowing that made her feel. He stooped to pluck a handful of wildflowers for her. The white flowers were tops of wild garlic. And they reminded her of all the times she'd gathered them with Annie, and with Pepper and Root. When he presented them, she was surprised by the laugh that escaped her lips. She didn't know where it came from. Once she started she couldn't stop. Before long she was sitting on the ground, crying her eyes out. Finnick dropped the flowers and held her close in his arms, asking her what was wrong, whispering soothing words in her ear. Tansy gripped his shirt in her hands. Just this once. She had told herself she wasn't going to do this any more. But right now, she really needed it. Just one more time, and then it would be the last.

Fortunately, she managed to calm down by the time they heard the rumble of the engine and it was time to go back. By the time they climbed aboard, her eyes were red and a little puffy, but dry. When Mags saw this, she took Tansy by the hand and sat with her, holding her and stroking her hair. It was warm and comforting. It made Tansy feel safe. She could relax with Mags. There was nothing to complicate their relationship. She leaned into Mag's motherly embrace and stared out the windows at the darkening sky. Tansy must have fallen asleep, because she woke up in her bed the next morning. She did her best to act normal around Finnick and tried not to take her conflicted, one-sided feelings out on him. She knew that if she just ignored him he would know something was up, and she didn't want to hurt his feelings since he was only trying to help. She reminded herself that he was looking out for her as favor to Annie. Mags helped her secure a book to pass the time. It was perfect because it gave her an excuse not to have to talk or make eye contact with anyone. She had trouble sleeping at night. She often tossed and turned and even woke up screaming. But she stayed in her room, afraid that if she bumped into Finnick, she would give in again. She had to pretend she was asleep when he came into her room to check on her after hearing the screams.

It was a relief when they pulled into District 4. They stood there silently, watching their clean, colorful station rise up around them. Through the window, Tansy could see the platform was thick with cameras. Everyone would be eagerly watching her homecoming.

Out the corner of her eye, she saw Finnick start to extend his hand to her, so she grabbed Mags', sticking close to her instead. Tansy avoided making eye contact with him. She was nervous enough already. If she had, she would have seen the flicker of disappointment on his face. She held Mag's hand tightly, preparing for the cameras. Tansy steeled her nerves and focused her attention on helping Mags off the train. The moment Tansy set foot on the platform, she was nearly bowled over by someone who had wrapped their arms around her at a run.

"Tansy!"

A warm feeling of relief and affection flooded through Tansy as she quickly returned the hug. It was Annie. They had let her come to the station to meet her. Tears of joy streamed down her sister's face and Tansy could feel them on her cheeks. They held each other so tight that it hurt. Tansy buried her face against her sister's hair and breathed in her familiar scent, crying tears of happiness and relief. Annie was all right. She was home. They were safe. Tansy didn't know how long they stood together like that, but no one said a word to stop them. When Tansy finally raised her head again, she realized someone important was missing. "Where's Dad?" she asked.

Annie tensed and she suddenly looked extremely pale. The look in her eyes filled Tansy with cold and terrible feeling of dread. "Tansy…" Annie said hesitantly, biting her lip. Her expression was pained, full of sorrow, grief. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Tansy." More tears. "Dad… Dad's gone."

Tansy felt her knees buckle. She gasped for air like a fish out of water. She was vaguely aware of someone catching her as she fell. A pair of strong hands. Soft, feminine hands touched her face and squeezed her hands. There was a great commotion in the background. She caught fragments of what her sister was trying to say, like, "out alone," "boating accident," "drowned." That was absurd. Their father knew the ocean and his boats like the back of his hand. He was a great swimmer. And then, once again, she heard her mother's words echo through her mind like a curse. "It never ends, Tansy. The Games never end."


	10. Epilogue

Author's note: This will be the last chapter for this story, but the sequel should be up soon. The title for the next part will be "A Ripening Love", and it will deal with the details of how Tansy and Finnick's feelings evolve for each other and their relationship with the other victors. It will also cover the aftermath of her victory and events leading up to the 74th Hunger Games. This epilogue is a preview of A Ripening Love's first chapter. The rating for the sequel may rise to M. Happy holidays!

* * *

 **Epilogue**

* * *

Tansy plunged into the cold water, letting it envelope her in its beautiful silence, leaving the rest of the world behind. The ocean was her last sanctuary. For a minute she just floated there, enjoying the feeling of being weightless. It was as if all of her burdens were being lifted away from her. If only that were true. She swam out to explore the reef. Most of the sea lions, seals, stingrays, and sharks had left for warmer waters, but the dolphins were still there. They chirped and made happy clicking noises when they say her and swam along with her in their usual playful manner. She loved her pod of dolphins. They were amazing. She never had to say anything, but they always knew when she needed cheering up. Like humans, dolphins showed affection with cuddles, pats, and strokes. When they sensed her grief, they would rub up against her and try to comfort her, even though they knew nothing of the Games or the terrible things she had done to survive and the terrifying threats that lingered over her head.

She had only just begun to pull herself back together. Learning of her father's death after losing Pepper and Root, and everything else she had been through was too much. The grief and the guilt nearly killed her. She withdrew from the world, curled up tightly inside her shell. She continued to give herself the minimum level of care for Annie's sake, but it was hard for Tansy to like herself. She suspected their father's strange and untimely demise had been her fault, the result of her actions in the arena. He was the most careful man Tansy had ever met. For him to drown so carelessly, tangled up in his own net, seemed impossible. Yet that was what had happened. He had been found washed up on the shore that way the morning before her homecoming. Tansy gently wrapped her arms around one of the younger dolphins when he snuggled his head against her, and she rubbed her head against his in return. Rays of sunlight pierced the deep blue as dawn began to lighten the sky above them. She couldn't fight the sun. She could only watch helplessly as it dragged her into a day that she had been dreading for months.

By noon they would all be at her new house in the Victor's Village. The reporters, the camera crews, even Priscilla Lush, her old escort, would have made their way to District 4 from the Capitol. She wondered if Priscilla's hair would still be bright purple, or if she would be sporting some other unnatural color especially for the Victory Tour. There would be others waiting, too. A staff to cater to her every need on the long train trip. A prep team to beautify her for public appearances. Her stylist and friend, Vita, who designed the gorgeous outfits that first made the audience take notice of her in the Hunger Games.

If it were up to Tansy, she would try to forget the Hunger Games entirely. Never speak of them. Try to pretend they were nothing but a bad dream. But the ache in her heart from the gaping hole where her friends and her father used to be and the Victory Tour made that impossible. Strategically placed almost midway between the annual Games, it was the Capitol's way of keeping the horror fresh and immediate. Not only were the districts forced to remember the iron grip of the Capitol's power each year, they were forced to celebrate it. And this year, she was the star of the show. The thought of it made Tansy sick. She would have to travel from district to district, to stand before the cheering crowds who secretly loathed her, to look down into the faces of the families whose children she had killed…

The sun persisted in rising, so Tansy made herself return to the shore. She parted with the dolphins and left the quiet of the ocean for the noise and chaos of the land. She had originally gone out to collect some shellfish, but as she made no real attempt at fishing, she had nothing to show for it. It didn't really matter for her and Annie anymore. They had money to burn now. They could afford to buy fish and butcher meat in town anytime they liked, although they didn't like the fish any better than when they caught it fresh for themselves. They still had some salmon left. By this time, Annie would be up and cooking it for breakfast before she headed off to work. Even though Tansy now had more than enough money to support them both, Annie kept working. Mostly to stay busy and keep her mind off of her own grief over their father's death. Tansy understood that. She had wanted to keep working, too. But she was a victor now, and apparently that just wasn't done. She could still go to school, and she often did in order to continue her learning, but it just wasn't the same. She didn't like the fame her new status had brought her. The only person she really wanted to be around there was Mari. Occasionally Dylan would join them, but he was still very shy. Tansy had at least had the presence of mind to finally thank him for the candy he gave her and politely informed him with as much kindness as she could muster that she wasn't ready for a relationship with anyone yet. He had taken the rejection fairly well and now they had become something like friends. Tansy had been wary of getting close to anyone after what had happened to her father, feeling it would be too dangerous. But Mari reminded her that it was also dangerous to be between the ages of twelve- and eighteen-years-old. Tansy realized she might have a point there. Everyone else her age was already in danger of facing a life or death situation, whether she was around or not.

But school didn't take up that much of the day. The rest of her time, once Tansy could bring herself to leave the house again, was filled with recreational diving, foraging, learning how to knit with Mags and, a little less often, tying knots to make nets with Finnick. She found the repetitive motions of these activities soothing and pleasantly mind-numbing. They were perfect for keeping busy and distracting yourself from having to think about anything in particular. She had tried to put some distance between her and Finnick once they returned, but all of her attempts had been rendered useless when he decided to ignore them, refusing to leave her alone. She wondered if it was because he felt responsible for her as a mentor or because she was Annie's little sister. Oddly enough, he and her sister didn't seem to be spending too much time together on their own anymore. She had asked Mags about it, but she just shrugged, said that was between the two of them. Tansy wanted to ask Annie, but it was harder for her to talk to her sister these days. It wasn't like before, when they could tell each other anything. The Games had spoiled even that. Too often, Tansy was worried about how much she should tell Annie about everything that had happened, about the danger it could put her sister in if she knew too much. She was terrified of losing her sister, too, and wanted to protect her. Although she knew Annie would have probably preferred for her to rely on her a little more. But since Tansy was keeping secrets, she didn't feel right asking Annie about hers. Annie had lost the only parent she had any clear memories of because of her. What right did she have to pry after that? And besides, she knew there were some things people didn't want or couldn't bear to talk about. If Annie wanted to tell her about it, she would. Tansy kept hoping that as time passed they would regain the ease between them, but part of her knew it was futile. There was no going back. Annie might forgive her, but Tansy would probably never be able to forgive herself.

She stopped by their home on her way back. Their old home, where they used to live with their father. It had become a silent monument to him. His room was left untouched. Everything still in its proper place, just how he liked it. They still got to keep it since officially it was the designated dwelling of her sister. If she should drop dead right now, Annie would have to return to it. So they took turns checking on it, keeping it clean, and making sure the utilities still worked. But at present, she and Annie were both installed in the new house in the Victor's Village.

Tansy went there now to switch her clothes. She dried off and exchanged her thermal wetsuit and swimming booties for dry clothes. She always kept a few spare outfits here since she often liked to swim over to the main harbor from the Victor's private beach. A warm pullover sweater, comfy denim culottes, and a pair of expensive machine-made sneakers. She rinsed out her wetsuit and hung it up over the tub to dry. Although time was ticking away, she allowed herself a few minutes to sit in their kitchen. Although no one really lived there anymore, and there was no fire in the hearth, it didn't feel abandoned. There was a clean cloth and small vase of fresh flowers on the table. Annie must have come by on her way home from work the previous evening. Tansy mourned their old life there. They may not have always gotten what they wanted, but their father made sure they always had what they needed, and Tansy knew where she fit in. She knew what her place was in the tightly interwoven fabric that was their peaceful life. She wished she could go back. It had felt so much more secure compared with now, when she was so rich and famous and so hated by the authorities in the Capitol. A strong breeze set the wind chimes tinkling on the porch outside. She had to go. It was a long walk back to the Victor's village from here.

The shoes were a little a loose around her heels as she trotted along the cobbled street. Cutting down alleys and through backyards to avoid the market and the main square. She wasn't in the mood for conversation that morning, and people had a habit of stopping her. Now that she was famous, even people she didn't know would try to chat or request a song. She usually didn't mind doing it for the younger children, but not today. Not when she was about to head back into the lion's den.

A thick ground fog started to roll in as she left the town and made her way to the Victor's Village. It was about a half-mile walk from the edge of town, but it seemed like a separate world entirely. It was a separate community built up on a rocky, green hillside, dotted with trees, flowering bushes, and vast patches of pink ice flowers. Past the Village was the lovely stretch of woods and greenery where she often went foraging with Annie. The back of the hill dropped off in a cliff that overlooked the ocean. A path of wide stairs had been carved out to provide easy access to the beach below. There were twelve houses, each large enough to hold ten little cottages like their old home. Half of them stood empty. The six in use belonged to her, Finnick, Mags, and the other three victors. Tansy had met Carmel, Aiden, and Allyn when she and Annie moved into the Village, but because she was too depressed to socialize until very recently, she still didn't know them too well. She knew Allyn was in his late fifties, Aiden was in his early forties, and Carmel was in her thirties. Allyn and Carmel were drinking partners, and Aiden liked to gamble and have barbeques and clambakes in his yard. Like most victors, including herself, they were a little on the dysfunctional side, but they seemed nice enough from the few times they had met. They were very understanding about how and why she had taken so long to properly introduce herself to them. That was one of the good things about living with other victors. Because they all shared similar traumas, they understood the secret pain they were all forced to hide. The same could not be said for the majority of 4's civilians, who had never experienced the true horror of the Games and their aftermath firsthand.

The houses inhabited by Tansy and Annie, Mags, Carmel, and Aiden gave off a warm glow of life and comfort. Lit windows, open curtains, bunches of corn affixed to the front doors and carved pumpkins on the porches and decks as decorations for the upcoming Harvest Festival. However, Allyn's house, despite the care taken by the grounds-keeper, exuded an air of abandonment and neglect. He had a cleaning lady come in once a week, but she could often be heard muttering complaints about how much he had trashed the house in between. He paid her an extremely generous fee to put up with it. Finnick's house usually had its curtains closed, and the lights were hardly ever on. But that was because he practically lived with Mags. He was always over there to help her out with something, but mostly for the company. She had practically raised him, so they very close. Finnick had been one of the Careers produced by the community home, an orphan. Mags was the closest thing he had to family. And Tansy and Annie seemed to have been added to that list. He often popped in on them for a visit, too. Especially when he felt Tansy had gone too long without showing her face outside the house. But since she had started to improve, Tansy would go over to Mags', too, while Annie was at work. So the three of them saw each other on a pretty much daily basis. It wasn't just them, though. Mags was sort of the matriarch of the Victor's Village, so her home had naturally become a gathering place for the victors.

But today, most of the action would be centered around Tansy's house. At the first step up the porch, she paused to knock off the damp soil that was clinging to the bottom of her shoes before she went in. They usually kept their home fairly tidy out of habit, but Annie had been working night and day to help her make everything perfect for the cameras, so it was no time to be tracking mud across the freshly shined floors. Tansy had barely stepped inside when she was hit by the mouthwatering aroma of pan-seared salmon with herbs, eggs, and toast. Her stomach growled and she suddenly realized how hungry she was. She headed straight for the kitchen.

She discovered that Mags and Finnick had beat her there. They were up early today. Mags was teaching Annie how to poach the eggs. Finnick was leaning against the counter next to the fridge with a glass of orange juice.

"There she is!" he said when she entered the room. "What took you so long? We were about to send out a search party," he teased.

Tansy shrugged. "I swam down to the harbor and decided to avoid the market on the way back." She answered as she stepped past him to get to the fridge. She opened the door and grabbed the pitcher of orange juice to pour herself a glass. "Want any?" she asked Annie and Mags.

"Yes, please," Annie said with a smile, while Mags nodded. "Would you mind getting the coffee started?"

Tansy shook her head as she finished pouring their glasses, handed them over, and crossed the kitchen to brew the coffee. They couldn't afford to have it so often before, but their father used to love coffee. It had become part of the sister's morning ritual to have a cup in memory of him. She added the ground beans and water to their fancy new coffeemaker and waited.

"So, how are you holding up?" Finnick asked, placing a hand on her shoulder as he approached her from behind. Tansy resisted the simultaneous conflicting urges she felt to move out of reach and to lean in closer. After she became conscious that she had begun to develop feelings for him that went beyond friendship, she had made an effort to pull back and tried to pretend it had never happened. But it had. And it was pointless to deny it to herself. An invisible barrier around her heart had shattered, and Finnick had managed to slip right in. Whatever she pretended, she could never look at him in quite the same way as she had before the Games, back when the only time she spoke to him was to react to his playful teasing. But she would never allow herself to act on these feelings. Not only did he still see her as a kid but, more importantly, he was Annie's boyfriend. Completely off limits.

"As well as can be expected, I guess," she answered quietly. "I just want it to be over."

"I know," he said, giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. The Tours were always hard, but in Tansy's case, it also meant returning to her old district, the home of Pepper and Root. He knew she was dreading having to face the crowd there, even though neither of their deaths had been her fault.

When the eggs and coffee were done, the four of them sat down to eat in the breakfast nook by the kitchen windows. They made small talk to fill the silence. It was just like when she used to live in District 11. There, where it had been a daily struggle to survive for most and the peacekeepers had enforced the rules so harshly that they didn't hesitate to whip hungry children for taking crops from the fields or hang old men, like Cyrus, for hoarding ancient books and artifacts from pre-Panem eras that were deemed to contain "dangerous" information in hidden root cellars—there, she never forgot how crucial it was to guard her words. But six years of living in the safety and luxury of District 4 had made her soft. Tansy forgot something very important. A lesson she had been made to relearn in the worst ways. A few desperate and careless words escaped her lips during the Games, and in return, she lost her friend and her father. The Capitol was always watching. She would never forget that again for as long as she lived.

They were careful to avoid any topics of real importance. Aside from the impending Victory Tour. Annie's quiet remark of "I hope there won't be any trouble," was the closest they came to touching on the very real danger they could be in if anything went wrong. Finnick countered with a playful barb at Tansy's new haircut, saying "The real trouble will be when Fabia sees what your sister's done to her hair." He was probably right. The cameras weren't expected until noon but Vita and the prep team would be there soon to get her ready for the whole ordeal. They were going to have a fit when they saw her.

Despite strict instructions not to do anything drastic to her hair, Tansy had lopped most of it off one night, so the curls that used to fall down to her upper back now ended just a couple of inches below her jaw. It wasn't something she had done lightly. Cutting her hair when she was upset and trying to recover from a major setback had become a ritual for Tansy. Ever since the day they had to shave her head because she caught lice. She had just turned three-years-old and didn't know Pepper and Root yet. Her mother was going through a particularly terrible spell that had lasted over three weeks. They were out of food and Tansy's health and hygiene had gone neglected for so long that she developed a serious lice infection, but she was afraid that if she told someone, they would think her mother was bad and separate them. It was the frantic itching and scratching at her scalp whenever they saw her outside the house that finally drew their neighbors' attention. That light and freeing feeling she felt when all her hair was shaved off and she was rid of the lice became associated with the tremendous relief she experienced when she and her mother finally received the help they had so desperately needed. And, despite her fears that she might have been balded for life, her hair grew back with gusto. Cutting her hair was a reminder that nothing lasted forever, not even her troubles. So she cut her hair again to help deal with her grief over losing her father, Pepper, and Root.

As soon as she finished eating, Tansy went upstairs to the bathroom and filled the tub with steaming water. A decorative dish of dried flowers perfumed the air. Tansy added a small amount of coconut oil to the tub. Their old house had running water, too, but if they wanted a hot bath, they had to kneel down and reach under the tub to the light the brazier beneath it. Their father had added that himself by cutting a hole in the floor to make room for the small heater. It was enough to keep the water from getting too cold, but if they wanted a steaming bath like this, they had to boil a few pots of water to add to it themselves. Being able to turn on a tap and have a limitless supply of hot water at their fingertips from any faucet in the house was a luxury she hadn't experienced since she left her mother's house. She undressed and lowered herself into the silky water, and tried to not to lose a grip on things.

While she washed herself clean, she hummed to herself and started to sing. Not a real song, just some random notes she liked the sound of strung together. Singing was her coping mechanism, a way to process and release her pain, happiness, whatever else she happened to feel that was too big to keep inside. Music was what had helped her get through life, ever since she was little. And now it was her talent. Just as it had been for her mother before her. Every victor was supposed to have one. Their talent was the activity they took up since they didn't have to work either in school or their district's industry. It could be anything, really, anything that they could interview you about. Mags' talent was designing fishing lures and weaving intricate artisan baskets. Finnick's main talent was fishing, but with his looks, it wasn't long before he was recruited to model, too. He had done a lot of advertising jobs for local businesses and quite a few fashion shoots for the Capitol over the years. Singing for the Capitol had been the last thing Tansy wanted to do, but she had become so popular for her voice that it would have been extremely difficult to refuse, and she was afraid of what the consequences might be if she did. So as soon as she was deemed fit enough, she began working with a singing coach and sound technicians who were sent in especially to set up a small studio in her house's basement and help her record a collection of songs for her first album. A small camera crew was also sent to film the whole process. Fortunately for her, every piece was a song she was already familiar with, because the songs she sang during the Games had created a booming revival in popularity for old folk songs. From the list of approved songs that was given to her, Tansy chose _O Death_. _Oh, My Darling Clementine. Where Did You Sleep Last Night. Across The Sea. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. The Pawpaw Patch_. That one was dedicated to Pepper and Root, because the three of them used to sing it together while they worked in the orchards _. Bringing in the Sheaves. Girl of Constant Sorrow._ It was supposed to be _Man of Constant Sorrow_ , but her voice instructor and the head sound technician thought it would be clever to change it. _The Maid Freed From The Gallows. Birds and Ships. Bright Morning Stars. Path to the Moon. The Parting Glass._ That one was recorded last, along with a special dedication to their father. He had always liked that one. Tansy initially chose clementine because she had always liked its melody and the sound technicians showed her this neat trick where they could offset and multiply the recording to make it sound like she was singing a three-part harmony with herself. But as she was singing, the complete picture of the imagery in the song hit her hard. "In a cavern, in a canyon," "you are lost and gone forever," "ruby lips above the water, blowing bubbles, soft and fine," these lines touched a raw nerve and conjured up painful and terrible memories of the arena and the way Pepper had drowned. She ended up crying in front of the cameras and had to stop for several breaks before she was finished. She wasn't surprised when _Strange Fruit_ didn't make the list. Her singing coach and the rest of the production crew lamented that her mother's lullaby, the one she sang during the Games, had not been approved, either. Tansy suspected that was because the "demons" mentioned in it could be taken as an allusion to the Capitol officials, so there was no way they would have allowed that to continue spreading.

Tansy had slipped deeper into the tub until her head was submerged to rinse her hair. Even underwater she could hear the sounds of commotion. Honking car horns, shouts of greeting, doors banging shut. It could only mean her entourage had arrived. She just had time to towel off and slip into a robe before her prep team burst into the bathroom. There was no question of privacy. When it came to her body, they had no secrets, these three people and Tansy.

"Tansy, your hair!" Cassia shrieked right off. Her fuchsia hair had been lightened to a pastel and styled so it stuck out in sharp points all over her head, and the blue tattoos that used to be confined to her neck had traveled up and curled around her eyes, all contributing to the impression that Tansy had literally shocked her. Fabia nearly fainted, and Gaius, who had a new nose piercing, clapped his hands over his mouth in shock. Even with the dark cloud hanging over her, Tansy had to stifle a laugh.

Poor Fabia was struggling to fix her jostled orange wig, beside herself with grief. "Really, Tansy, you could have left me something to work with! How could you?" she cried. "You're called the 'Golden Siren' because of your golden hair! We specifically told you not to let anyone else touch it!"

"I didn't. I did this myself," Tansy said in defense. "Didn't Vita warn you before you came?" Lately they had been speaking a lot on the telephone that came with the house. It was sort of a joke because hardly anyone she and Annie knew owned one. There were Finnick and Mags, obviously, but now that they were neighbors they could walk over to their houses in less than a minute if they wanted to talk. At first, the thing barely ever got used. Then Vita started to call when she had to start working on her talent, because there had been talk of possibly making a music video, and if the idea went through, she would need costumes. Her singing coach and the production crew had mercifully come to the conclusion that she was suffering enough at the moment and decided to postpone creating a music video with her in it until she'd had more time to recover and adjust to the idea of having to perform professionally. Anyway, the moment Tansy finished cutting her hair, she realized she should probably at least let Vita know what she had done in case it would effect her designs. She didn't think it would be such a big deal since the stylist had been so forgiving about it. Obviously, her prep team felt different.

Fabia made a strange, strangled shrieking sound, clawed at the air, and stomped her foot. "No! No one told me anything!" she wailed.

"It's a national tragedy!" Cassia cried.

"Oh, but you're all so skilled, I thought that if anyone could fix this, it would be you. And I was careful not to bite my nails and keep my eyebrows plucked," Tansy said gently, grateful that she could show she hadn't totally taken them for granted.

This seemed to mollify them, and they all kissed her, set her down on a chair near the tub, and began the task of removing the soft, virtually invisible down on her legs. They had all the hair ripped off her body in record time. The tub was filled again, and she had to soak in a thick, unpleasant-smelling solution, while her face and hair were plastered with creams. Two more baths followed in other, less offensive concoctions. Tansy was plucked and scoured and massaged and anointed until she was raw. As usual, they had started talking nonstop without bothering to notice if she was listening. While they worked on her, she heard all about the Capitol. What a hit the Games were, how dull things had been since, how excited they were when her album was released, how she was being romanticized as a tragic heroine and the ideal picture of youthful innocence and beauty, how no one could wait until she visited again at the end of the Victory Tour. After that, it wouldn't be long before the Capitol began gearing up for the next Hunger Games.

"Isn't it thrilling?"

"You must be excited!"

"After all this will be your first year of being a mentor as well as a victor!"

Their words overlapped in a blur of excitement.

"Oh, yes," Tansy said neutrally. It was the best she could manage. The truth was, just thinking about it made her sick to her stomach. Being a mentor to the tributes was the stuff of nightmares. She couldn't walk by the school now without wondering what kid she would have to coach. That was a large part of the reason why she had a hard time going back. At first, she had tried to continue her studies from home, but she eventually realized that there was little point in trying to run from it, when she knew escape was impossible. At least going to school in person could mean being able to learn their strengths and weaknesses and provide a little help to anyone she saw falling behind before it was too late. After they had exhausted the topic of the Seventy-first Hunger Games, her prep team launched into a whole lot of stuff about their incomprehensibly silly lives. Who said what about someone she had never heard of and what sort of shoes they just bought and a long story from Gaius about what a mistake it was to have melted chocolate sculptures at an outdoor party.

The three of them didn't seem to have any clue how traumatic the Games were for her and everyone else from the districts. To them it was just a TV show, a game. She wondered how much the ordinary citizens in the Capitol knew. How many of them were aware of how sinister the government could be. Tansy suddenly remembered of one of the ancient books old Cyrus, who used to let the more discrete adults and children in to read for a little while at a time, had kept in his cellar. _Animal Farm._ She was only six or seven at the time, and she hadn't really thought about it in years, so some of the details were a little vague, but she remembered enough. She had started reading it because of the title, but it proved to be anything but a cute children's story about cuddly animals. First, the animals chased away the humans and took over the farm because they were tired of being overworked and slaughtered. They all agreed on a set of rules that were meant to be fair to everyone. But then the pigs, who were given more power because they were the smartest group of animals, began secretly changing the rules and took over ruling the farm in place of the humans. Anyone who opposed them was punished, and by the end of the book, the pigs acted and looked like humans so much that it was hard for the other animals to tell them apart. It was a very scary story. A cautionary tale about the dangers of how too much power could corrupt and lead to abuse.

They applied a lotion to sooth Tansy's raw skin, and soon her curly hair was smooth and silky, and her nails were ready to be painted. Apparently they had been given instructions to prepare her whole body from head to toe, even though it was winter and would be freezing in many of the other districts, because District 4 was known for its mild winters, so it would look strange for her to be completely covered apart from her hands and face. And there was no point in delaying it since it would be the same in District 11, the second stop on the Tour. Gaius badly wanted to use his own trademark blue lipstick on her but resigned himself to a translucent pink as they began to color her face and nails. Tansy could see by the palette Vita had assigned that they were going for a subdued girlish look, not sexy. Good. She would never be able to make it through if she was trying to be provocative. That had become pretty clear when Finnick was coaching her for her interview for the Games. She made a very awkward seductress.

When her hair was done, Tansy found Vita in her bedroom, and just the sight of her made her feel more hopeful. She looked the same as always, elegant clothes, curled and plaited platinum-blonde hair, doll-like makeup. The only difference was that she wore black for winter instead of her usual white. They embraced, and Vita gave her a light kiss on the cheek.

"So, how did they handle it?" she asked, touching a short, golden curl gently.

"I think I may have come dangerously close to awakening some homicidal tendencies in Fabia," said Tansy. "Why didn't you tell them?"

"And deprive you of the look on their faces when they found out?" Vita said slyly.

"You're so wicked," Tansy said with a wry smile.

"If you think I'm wicked now, you should see me before I've had my coffee," she said, placing her hands on Tansy's shoulders to steer her towards the bed, where she had laid out her clothes.

Tansy didn't pretend to be stylish and normally had little interest in fancy clothes, but she did love the ones Vita made for her. Like these. Another pair of culottes in navy-blue, pleated, and made of a soft, flowing material. A loose turtleneck sweater, woven from black kitten-soft wool, with fluffy quarter-length sleeves and small, subtle embellishments in various shades of blue on the shoulders to add a bit of color and shine. Black leather ankle boots that fit her heels just right. She held still while Vita made some adjustments to her hair, tying a navy-blue scarf with wavelike patterns around her hair in a simple but elegant knot like a headband to keep it out of her face.

"You're bringing headscarves back in style. By the way, congratulations on finishing the album. It must have been hard," Vita said sympathetically, giving her hands a comforting squeeze. "I can't listen to it without getting chills."

Neither could Tansy. It was as hard to listen to as it had been to make, but she was pretty sure that Vita had meant it in a good way. "I can't believe they released it already," she said.

"They usually wait until today to finish filming promotions for a new victor's talent. But if they had put of its release any longer, there really would be riots," said Vita. "The look on your face tells me you don't believe it, but a handful of people were trampled when the crowds who hadn't preordered rushed into the stores the first day it went on sale."

"That's terrible," Tansy said. She had a hard time picturing the etiquette-driven people of the Capitol acting like a pack of wild dogs fighting over piece of meat for the sake of a few songs. Tansy loved music, but she wouldn't trample someone for it.

"That's how talented you are," Vita said, giving her a gentle pat on the cheek. "Come on, I want you to introduce me to that wonderful sister of yours."

"You didn't meet her yet?" Tansy asked as they headed back downstairs.

"No, Finnick was the one who greeted us and pointed us in your direction. For a moment, we thought we had the wrong house. He answered the door like he owned the place," Vita explained, clearly amused.

"Yeah, he does that," Tansy said with a small shrug, hoping it didn't show when her cheeks started to heat up. They found the others in the living room, where Annie was serving tea and lemon cookies shaped like starfish, seashells, and seahorses. The prep team responded with enthusiasm and earnest smiles. They were obviously thrilled to meet her, and all three were so eager and readily respectful and nice to her sister that Tansy felt bad about the times she had looked down on them. Who knew who she would be or what she would talk about if she had been raised in the Capitol? Maybe her biggest regret would be having melted chocolate sculptures at her outdoor party, too. She was glad that Annie seemed to be enjoying herself. Finnick and Mags weren't there. They must have returned to their own homes to finish getting ready before the cameras arrived.

Speak of the devil. Just then, Priscilla Lush arrived in a harvest gold wig to remind everyone, "We're on a schedule!" She kissed Tansy on both cheeks while waving in the camera crew, and then ordered her into position. Priscilla could be a little odd, but she took her work as an escort very seriously because she genuinely wanted to support her tributes and victors, so Tansy tried to accommodate her. She welcomed the camera crew into her home and introduced them to her sister, even though she would have rather kept Annie as far away from the Capitol's prying eyes as possible. But the public couldn't get enough of the devoted sisters, so they tried to interview the two of them together as often as possible, preferably while they were holding hands. Annie looked lovely in a dark green frock that brought out her eyes, her reddish-brown hair pulled back in a long, over-the-shoulder fishtail braid. Many of the questions were for Annie, about how proud she must be of her sister. About how they had been coping since their father passed away, the significance of _The Parting Glass_ song to their family. About his death.

 _Bam!_ It was like someone actually hit Tansy in the chest. No one had, of course, but the pain was so real she almost had to take a step back. She squeezed her eyes shut and she didn't see Annie—she saw her father, the closed casket from his funeral that held his waterlogged corpse. She raised a hand to cover her mouth as bile rose from her stomach. Who else would she fail to save from the Capitol's vengeance? Who else would be dead if she didn't satisfy President Snow?

She realized Annie was holding her close, politely answering that it was still too difficult for them to talk about his passing at that time. They quickly moved on to other, less sensitive topics and shortly concluded the interview.

Priscilla was nearby, clapping her hands. "Attention, everyone! We're about to do the first outdoor shot, where the victors greet each other at the beginning of their marvelous trip. Now, Tansy, give us a smile and try to look excited, all right?" Tansy and Annie exchanged another, deep embrace and a kiss goodbye on the cheek. Then Priscilla gave Tansy a gentle push out the door.

For a moment, she couldn't quite see right because of the sun, which was shining right in her eyes. Tansy raised a hand to shield them and saw that Finnick was already at Mags' door, offering her his arm to give her a little extra support for the walk they had ahead of them. A smile graced Tansy's lips at the sight and she started walking in their direction. Mags looked up and called out to her. Finnick looked up and gave her a handsome smile. Tansy quickened her pace to meet them. Mags reached out to her. Tansy took her hand and tucked it into the crook of her arm, supporting her from her side as well. They looked very cozy together, the three of them. Tansy was still nervous in front of cameras, but being so close to the others helped calm her. She could feel the reassuring experience bought with age from Mags, and the steady confidence that Finnick brought to everything. And she knew she wasn't alone. She had two of the most dependable allies anyone could hope to ask for. They were still looking out for her. Just as they had while she was in the arena. Somehow, even though it made her happy, the thought also made her want to cry. Instead, she tightened her grip on Mags a little more, and they continued steadily on their way.

The rest of the day was a big blur of getting to the station, bidding everyone goodbye, the train pulling out, the old team—Tansy, Finnick and Mags, Priscilla and Vita—dining on an indescribably delicious meal of a light bean soup, a green salad, and flambéed Squab with cherries. Finnick noticed Tansy had been fidgety since before dinner, and seemed to be contemplating something very serious. Which wasn't strange, considering her position. Victory Tours were hard enough without having to know the lives your family and friends were being held hostage. But he didn't like seeing her suffer like this. He wanted to ask her about it, see if it was something he could help her with. He was waiting for a chance to take her somewhere they would be less likely to be under watch, a stop at a fueling station, perhaps. But Tansy beat him to it.

They were just served a pretty pink pudding for dessert, when she suddenly asked, "I was just wondering… is there any way for a victor to donate part of their winnings to another district? Or maybe to the families of the fallen tributes?"

Her question surprised everyone at the table. "Oh, no," said Priscilla almost immediately. "No, dear, I'm afraid that sort of thing just isn't allowed. You simply can't use your winnings that way. It's against the rules."

"Oh," Tansy said, so disappointed that she visibly wilted in her chair. "I see." That was that, then. She had wanted to do something for the people in 11 and the families of the tributes she killed, although she knew no amount of money could make up for what she had done. But with Annie's life on the line, she couldn't afford to be seen trying to go against the rules again. Whatever she did would probably come back on Finnick and Mags, too. When she was in the arena, they had been unable to communicate with her, so whatever happened in there had been entirely her own fault. But now, on the Tour, they would all be traveling on the same train, free to talk, to ask and give guidance at any time. Some of the blame would surely fall on them if something went wrong this time. Tansy couldn't afford to screw this up. Too many people's fates depended on her giving a good show. She placed a hand against the soft collar of her sweater and felt the pearls on her choker behind it. She would have to find another way.

After dinner, they watched the short documentary on the making of her first album, _Songs of Land and Sea_. Priscilla had insisted. The film had been included in the most expensive preorder package for it. It wasn't nearly as terrible as Tansy had feared. It was mentioned how the whole album had been dedicated in honor of the all the fallen tributes in general, as well as the specific dedications placed on individual songs for her friends and father. This was where they showed the scenes they filmed of Tansy explaining the significance of what each song meant to her and the people they were dedicated to. They really played up the tragic and youthful beauty angle, overlaying a clip of her with tears streaming down her face as she sang with audio from her singing coach describing what dedicated worker she was for someone with such raw, natural talent, praising the way she was willing to work through her grief. But then they reached the end, when they showed the music video that had been made for _O Death._ It was truly horrific. They had put together a montage of the other tribute's death scenes to match the lyrics. Tansy stared at the screen, unable to tear her eyes from it. She was paralyzed with a multitude of emotions, the most prominent of which were, shock, outrage, anger, and horror. She should never have chosen that song. She should have expected something like this. But she hadn't. She was angry at herself for letting it happen. And her punishment was having her deepest wounds ripped open again as they showed Pepper and Roots deaths as part of this twisted display for entertainment. Just as the noose was slipped around his neck, a large, hand covered her eyes, and she was pulled back against something warm and solid. Finnick. The moment he realized was what coming, he moved to shield her from it.

"I think that's enough for now. You've had a big day, and it's going to be a long trip. Time for bed, Tansy." he said, while Mags nodded in agreement and Vita promptly had the gruesome thing shut off. Priscilla had been very excited about the music video, but she regretted it when she saw the effect it had Tansy.

She was a little shaky as Finnick helped her stand, but Tansy gave him a brief hug to let him know she was grateful for the save and wished everyone goodnight with as a steady a voice as she could manage before heading for her room. As soon as the door closed behind her, she ripped off her clothes, jumped in the shower, and tried to wash and scrub the feelings away. She sang _Bright Morning Stars_ over and over again and made herself think of happy things—the ocean, the dolphins, knitting with Mags, playing on the beach with Annie, Annie singing, Annie's smile, Finnick's smile, Finnick acting goofy to make them laugh, fishing with Finnick, battling a stray tomcat with him that had the looks and personality of a salty, old sea captain that liked to steal from their catch—until _O Death_ and all the terrible images that went along with it were pushed out of her head. She didn't know how long she had been in the shower, but it was enough for the tips of fingers to wrinkle like raisins. She turned off the water, stepped out of the shower, and dried off. She had just finished swathing herself in pajamas and a voluminous robe, when there was a knock at the door. She opened it and found Finnick standing there with a cup of warm milk. Just like that first night after she volunteered for the Games. She stepped aside to let him in.


End file.
